
Class L, 



i^-DLS? 



(xwriglit)^"_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSUi 



HISTORY 



CITY OF CLEVELAND 



ITS SETTLEMENT, RISE AND PROGRESS 



EDITED BY 

W. SCOTT ROBISON 



ILLUSTRATED 



; JAN 16 1888 \s) 



CLEVELAND, OHIO: 

ROBISOxV & COCKETT— THE SUNDAY WORLD 

1887 



Copyright, 1887, by F. D. Leslie. 
All Rights Reserved. 



The Williams Publishing Company, Printers. 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter I. 



Origin of the Name Cleaveland — General Moses Cleaveland — Mr. 
Kilbourn's Estimate — Connecticut's Claims in the Northwest 
—The Western Reserve— History of the Connecticut Land Com- 
pany—The Agent's Commission— The Founding of Cleveland. 



Chapter II 14. 

Return of the Surveyors— The First Map of Cleveland— Difficulty 
with the Surveyors— A Winter's History— Arrival of the Kings- 
burys— Accident on the Grand River— The First Burial Ground- 
Major Lorenzo Carter — Completion of the Survey — The Enemy 
' of the Swamps — The Founding of Newburg — The First Grist- 
Mill. 



Chapter III 20 

The Erection of Trumbull County — Extent of Cleveland Township 
— The First Civil List — Rivalry with Newburg — The Bryants' 
Distillery — Trade with the Indians — Samuel Huntington — Local 
Autonomy— The First Town Meeting and Its Result— Organi- 
zation of Militia Districts— Settlement of Indian Claims— The 
Eve of War — General Hull's Surrender — Perry's Victory. 

I 



11 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter IV 26 

The Village of Cleveland — Building and Improvement — Beginning of 
Cleveland Journalism — The Old Academy — Bits of Corporate 
Legislation — The First Fire Engine — The County-Seat Contro- 
versj' — Preliminaries to the Canal — From Cleveland to Akron by 
Water — Government Appropriations for Harbor Improvements 
—Population in 1825 — Land Speculation — Advantages of Cor- 
porate Organization. 



Chapter V 35 

The Two Charters — Description of Cleveland — Versatile Men — First 
Cit3^ Election — A Hopeful Outlook — Prosperity from the Canal — 
Early Methods of Transportation— Beginning of Railroad Enter- 
prise — The Various Schemes — Liberal Charters — Financial Dis- 
aster—Battle of the Bridge. 



Chapter VI 44 

Proceedings of the Council— First School Board— Temperance Reform 
— Inauguration of New Conditions — Mayor Dockstader's Address 
— Retrenchment of Municipal Expenditure— Common Schools- 
Organization of a Lyceum— Pro-Slavery Law of Ohio— The Inci- 
dent of 1841 — The Young Men's Literary Association — First 
High School. 



Chapter VII ^ 51 

Revival of Railroad Enterprise — The Various Lines — Incidents of 
Early Railroad History — The Grand Results — The Ohio State 
Bank and its Cleveland Branches— First Move for Annexation- 
Purchase of Woodland Cemetery— Various Improvements— Incep- 
tion and Building of the City Water-Works— Organization of the 
Board of Trade. 



CONTENTS. Ill 

PAGE 

Chapter VIII 62 

The United Cities — Comparison of Population— Sanitary Measures 
to Prevent Cholera — Improvement of the "Old River Bed" — 
Opening of Trade with Lake Superior — First Meeting of the 
Joint Council — Serious Conflagration — Failure of the Canal 
Bank — Dedication of the New Council Hall — The Grays' New 
Armory — Rivalry in National Politics — The Public Square Con- 
troversy. 



Chapter IX 73 

Completion of the West Side Reservoir — A New Market House Built 
— Measures to Establish an Industrial School — Home Politics — 
The Hard Times of 1857 — The Gubernatorial Contest Between 
Chase and Paj^ne — Statement of Municipal Finances — The Anti- 
Lecompton Demonstration — The First Trans-Atlantic Telegram 
— Unveiling of Perry's Monument — Construction of the First 
Street Railroad. 



Chapter X 84 

The Irrepressible Conflict — Visit of Colonel Ellsworth's Zouaves — 
Rendition of the Fugitive Slave, Lucy — Visit of President-Elect 
Lincoln — Organization of Military Companies — The President's 
Call — Cleveland's Reply — Camp Taylor — Northern Ohio Militia 
Starts for the Front — The Conference of Governors at Cleveland 
— The Home Guards — Vallandigham and his Colleagues — Death 
of William Case — Creation of the Sinking Fund — Building of the 
West Side Street Railroad — Mass Meeting of Freemen in Cleve- 
land — Opening of the A. & G. W. Railroad — Obsequies of Colonels 
Creighton and Crane and Major Thayer— Return of the Seventh 
Regiment— The Old Baptist Church— The Ladies' Aid Society and 
its Good Work — Organization of the Pay Fire Department and 
the Introduction of the Telegraph System. 



IV CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter XI 98 

Cleveland's Prosperity During the War — Fall of Richmond and Lee's 
Surrender— The Celebration of the Great Victory— The Assassina- 
tion of President Lincoln— The Laying in State of the Martyred 
President's Remains in Cleveland— A Review^ of the City's Indus- 
trial Development— Cleveland Becomes a Manufacturing City— 
The Growth of Public Institutions— Two Destructive Fires— The 
Provost-Marshal Convicted of Bribery — The Return of the 
Soldiers — Visits from the Famous Federal Generals — Sir Morton 
Peto— The Advent of the National Game of Base Ball — Mayor 
Chapin is Elected — The Equal Rights League — Establishment of 
the First Public Hospital. 

Chapter XII 110 

Active Efforts to Prevent Cholera — The Creation of a Health Board 
— Adoption of the Metropolitan Police System — President John- 
son in Cleveland — A Visit from Loyal Southerners — Opening of the 
Union Passenger Depot — Prosperity and Failure in Commerce — 
Two Executions for Murder — Incorporation of the Bethe? Union 
— The Cleveland Library Association, now "Case Librar}' " — 
Inception of the Local Historical Society— Opening of the Public 
Square. 

Chapter XIII '. 120 

The Firemen's Relief Association — Building of a New Orphan Asylum 
— The First Iron Steamer — Bessemer Steel — A Severe Storm — The 
Fenians' Campaign Against Canada — Beginning of the Working- 
men's War for Wages — Two Death Sentences for Murder. 

Chapter XIV 130 

Revival of Our Literar^^ Spirit — Establishment of the City Public 
Library, the Kirtland Society of Natural Science and the Law 
Library Association — A Bit of Railroad History — City Elections 
^Cleveland Becomes the "City of National Conventions" — 
Incorporation of the Lake View Cemetery Association — Efforts 
to Secure Purer Water — Building of the Lake Tunnel — The Con- 
solidation of the Medical Colleges. 



CONTENTS. V 

PAGB^ 

Chapter XV 138 

Cleveland's Growth — Increase in the Coal Trade— An Evolution in 
Iron — Petroleum and its Influence in the Commerce of Cleve- 
land — The Pressing Necessity for Better Transportation Facilities 
— History of Three Important Railroads — The Colored People's 
Celebration — Organization of the Northern Ohio Fair Association 
— Incidents of a Year. 

Chapter XVI 149 

The Work-House Separated from the Infirmary — TheNecessity of a Re- 
form Farm — Celebration of Germany's Victory Over France — 
Creation of a Board of Park Commissioners — Purchase and Im- 
provement of Lake View Park— Visit of a Russian Duke-^Annex- 
ation of East Cleveland Village — A Board of Fire Commissioners 
Created — The Fire Department Investigation. 

Chapter XVII 161 

The Tax Relief League— Burning of the Newburg Insane Asylum — 
The Homoeopathic Hospital — Inventors' Exhibition — Relief to 
the Chicago Fire Sufferers — The Horse Epidemic of '72 — Three 
Important Conventions — Annexation of Newburg — A Military 
Organization. 

Chapter XVIII 170 

The Great Crash — The Women's Crusades — Labor Outbreaks — A 
National Sjengerfest- The Lease of the Present City Hall— The 
Euclid Avenue Opera House — Establishment of the Citj' Hospital 
— The Harbor of Refuge — Explosion of a Powder Mill. 

Chapter XIX ISa 

Centennial Celebration — Incorporation of Riverside Cemetery' — A 
Police Life and Health Fund — Tiie Celebrated Invention of 
Charles F. Brush — Establishment in Cleveland of the Brush 
Electric Light Company — The Railroad Strike of 1877 — The 
Cleveland Galling Gun Battery and the First Cavalry Troop. 



vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter XX 190 

A Grand Workof Charity-— Completion of the Superior Street Viaduct 
—Donation to the City of Wade Park by J. H. Wade— Funeral 
of President Garfield. 

Chapter XXI 201 

Organization of the Early Settlers' Association— Building of Music 
Hall— Construction of the Fairmount Reservoir — The Smith 
Sunday Law— The New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad— 
The Case School of Applied Science — Building and Burning of 
the Park Theatre— The Freshet on the Flats— Introduction of a 
New Paving Material— Meeting in Cleveland of the Am.erican 
Medical Association —Strike at the Cleveland Rolling Mills — 
The Cleveland & Canton Railway. 

Chapter XXII 212 

Strike of Telegraph Operators — Free School Supplies — The Great 
Conflagration on the Flats — Building of the City Fire-Boat 
— Labor Eruption at Newburg — General Grant Memorial Services 
— Rebuilding of the New Western Reserve Medical College — Re- 
districting the City — Construction of the New Central Viaduct — 
The Board of Industr}- — Fur Robber}- — Reform in Elections — 
Table of Population— List of Mayors of Cleveland. 

By F. T. Wallace, author of 'Men and Events of Half a Century,' 
P. W. Graham and John R. Commons. 

Education in Cleveland By B. A. Hinsdale. 327 

Municipal Finances Statistics furnished by Thomas Jones. 264 

Literature in Cleveland By Lizzie H. Neff. 304 

Charities and Churches 350 

Biographical Sketches 391 

Appendix 



PREFACE. 

4^^^INCE our National Centennial," says a literary' 
»^^ paragrapher in Harper's Magazine of last May, 
"especial attention has been given by many writers in 
different parts of the country to the development of local 
history." A glance through the catalogues of our prin- 
cipal libraries will confirm this statement. The impor- 
tance of our knowledge of history coming nearer home has 
just dawned upon the mind of. the American people. The 
reason is, perhaps, the public realization of the fact that 
the historical period in the life of our large cities — the 
period of settlement and pioneer development — is past, 
and that the most favorable time for recording the events 
in a permanent form has arrived. 

In bringing out the History of the City of Cleveland, 
the publishers hope that an important contribution to the 
literature of Northern Ohio has been made. In endeavor- 
ing to profit by the experiences of the publishers of the 
histories of other cities, it was deemed most judicious to 
produce a book that could be sold at a price considerably 
less than that of the average local work of this kind. 
Voluminous and elaborate local histories, with their pro- 
portionately high cost, have not proved commercial suc- 

ix 



X PREFACE. 

messes. So large is the amount that one must read in 
these clays to keep up with the times, that the majority of 
people find it necessary' to select condensed treatments of 
subjects. They desire to become familiar with the general 
facts, but prefer not to go deeply into details. In carrying 
out the plan of this work, prolix statement of facts, long 
comments, expanded theories and tedious discussions have 
been avoided, and a clear, concise and direct style em- 
ployed, though the work is in no sense superficial. Many 
occurrences of interest at the time they transpired, but 
comparatively of no significance or importance in the 
histor\' of the city, have been omitted. This book is 
a history of the city of Cleveland. It begins with the 
organization of the Connecticut Land Company and 
ends with the present year. The history of the Indian 
tribes which inhabited this region is not a part of the 
subject, and will be found in the works of historians of 
the aboriginal American races and of early missionary 
movements. 

With these prefatory remarks the book is submitted to 
the public scrutiny, hoping that it will meet with popular 
favor. 

Respectfully, 

THE PUBLISHERS. 

Cleveland, O., Dec. 5. 1887. 




Spafford's Map of Cleveland, from the first survey in 1796, showing 

original numbers of lots. From a drawing made by 

Colonel Charles Whittlesev. 



CHAPTER I. 

Origin of the Name Cleavelaxd— General Moses Cleaveland— Mr. 
Kilbourn's Estimate— Connecticut's Claims in the Northwest— 
The Western Reserve— History of the Connecticut Land Com- 
pany—The Agent's Commission— The Founding of Cleveland. 

i i / ^LEFFLANDS " was, according to trustworthy au- 
V^-^ thority, the name applied by the inhabitants of 
Yorkshire, England, about the tenth century, to a pictur- 
esque and cliff}' district within their borders, whose rocks 
abounded in characteristic apertures or rivers, called in the 
Saxon nomenclature "Cleves." The dwellers in this section 
were denominated " Cleavelanders," particularly the most 
powerful family ; and this name, originally assigned as a 
matter of convenience, has since adhered to the house. 

This manner of accounting for the origin of a name now 
familiar throughout the world as belonging to a large 
and important city of Northern Ohio is quite satisfactory. 
But whatever may have been its derivation, Moses Cleave- 
land was the name of a hardy Puritan wdio landed at 
Boston in 1635, and who was the progenitor of General 
Moses Cleaveland— the Moses who had the faith, courage 
and executive abilit}^ to lead the first colony into the w'ilds 
of the Western Reserve, and found a great city which will 



10 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

ever be a grand and growing monument to perpetuate his 
memory* 

In the year 1829, one John Kilbourn, of Columbus, pub- 
lished a book, the purpose of which, as stated in the preface, 
was "to answer frequent inquiries made iij the Atlantic 
States concerning this State, respecting its extent, soil, 
climate, navigableness of its rivers, relative fertility, pop- 
ulation," etc. This publication, after a careful balancing 
of prospects and situations, predicts with no small confi- 
dence that among the towns of the rising State, "Cleve- 
land, the seat of justice of Cuyahoga County, will in time 
become one of the most important." The basis for this 
prediction will appear in the following enumeration : 

On the thirteenth ultimo the village (of Cleveland) contained one hun- 
dred and sixt3'-eight dwelling-houses, thirteen mercantile stores, fifteen 
warehouses, four drug stores, one book and stationery store, nine gro- 
ceries, six taverns, and about one thousand inhabitants. 

Such was the city of Cleveland a third of a century after 
its first settlement, and nearly fifteen years from its incor- 
poration as a village — a modest showing for a Western 
tov/n which had been strategically located, and started 
upon its career under the most favorable auspices and 
with the highest hopes. 

The truth is that the history of the Cleveland of our day 
— the metropolis of Northern Ohio, and the centre of vast 
and varied industries — had scarcely begun when Mr. Kil- 
bourn put forth this modest description. The conditions 
brought in by the harbor improvements of 1828, and the 

* See Biography of General Moses Cleaveland in the biographical 
chapter. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 11 

subsequent opening of the Ohio canal, introduced a new 
period, in which nearly all the great interests of our day 
had their inception and development. We shall, therefore, 
in this chapter trace somewhat briefly the events of the 
earlier 3^ears, indicating the main lines of development, 
and noting the events of chiefest interest. 

The Western Reserve of Ohio derives its name from the 
circumstance that the State of Connecticut, at the general 
settlement of land-claims in 1786, reserved this section as 
State propert}'. Connecticut had maintained large but 
somewhat ill-defined claims to lands situated in the North- 
western territory, deriving her title from a grant issued by 
Charles II. in 1662. The Puritan State certainly fared 
well in a settlement by which she acquired undisputed pos- 
session of nearly four million acres of fertile land, in ex- 
change for an altogether vague and incomprehensible title- 
deed, issued a century earlier by an authority which had 
since been superseded. 

In 1792 Connecticut set apart five hundred thousand acres 
of the Reserve, afterward known as the Fire-lands, for the 
benefit of those among her citizens who had suffered b}' fire 
during the Revolution ; and three years later (1795) a 
commission was formed to effect the sale of the remaining 
part. Forty-five wealth^^ citizens of the State, collectively 
known as the Connecticut Land company, purchased this 
remainder, subscribing therefor twelve hundred thousand 
dollars ; the individual members receiving quit-claim deeds 
for fractional parts of the entire territory, corresponding 
to their share in the aggregate subscription. Preparation 
was immediately made by the company for the survey of 



12 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

its newly acquired property. General Moses Cleaveland, 
one of the share-holders, was chosen to sviperintend the 
work, receiving the following commission on the twelfth 
of May, 1796: 

To Moses Cleaveland, Esq., of the county of Windham, and State of 
Connecticut, one of the directors of the Connecticut Land Company, 
Greeting : 

We, the board of directors of said company, having appointed you to 
go on to said land as superintendent over the agents and men sent to 
survey and make locations on said land, and to enter into friendh^ nego- 
tiations vi^ith the natives who are on said land or contiguous thereto 
and may have any pretended claim to the same, and secure such friendly 
intercourse amongst them as will establish peace, quiet and safety to the 
survey and settlement of said lands not ceded by the natives under the 
authority of the United States. 

You are hereby, for the foregoing purposes, fully authorized to act and 
transact the above business in as full a manner as we ourselves could do. 
. . . And all agents and men by us employed to survey and settle said 
lands to be obedient to your orders and directions ; and you are to be 
accountable for all moneys by you received, conforming your conduct to 
such orders and directions as we may from time to time give you, and to 
do and act in all matters according to your best skill and judg- 
ment, which may tend to the best interest, etc., of said Connecticut Land 

company 

Oliver Phelps, 
Henry Champion, 
Roger Newbury. 
Samuel Mather, Jr. 
Directors. 

The first surveying party to the Western Reserve arrived 
at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river in July, 1796. Here a 
cabin was built for the reception of stores, which were 
assigned to the charge of Mr. Job P. Stiles and his wife, 
Tabitha — theirs being the first home of Cleveland. It was 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 13 

only after the preliminary survey into townships had been 
completed that the mouth of the Cuyahoga river was 
chosen as the site for a future great city, receiving the 
name of Cleaveland, in honor of the superintendent. The 
remaining work of the survey, the division of the new city 
into streets and lots, was soon completed, and the party 
made ready for their return. 



14 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER IT. 

Return of the Surveyors— The First Map of Cleveland— Diffi- 
culty With the Surveyors — A Winter's History — Arrival of 
the Kingsburys— Accident on the Grand River— The First Bu- 
rial Ground— Major Lorenzo Carter— Completion of the Survey 
—The Enemy of the Swamps— The Founding of Nevv^burgh- The 
First Grist-Mill. 

"1 ^ 7HEN, in the month of December, 1796, the survey- 

V V ors of the Connecticut Land company returned 
to their homes in the east they left behind them, at the 
mouth of the Cuyahoga river, an ideal city, with its pub- 
lic square of ample proportions, its avenues and streets 
extending through the forest, and its numbered lots for 
private purchase. General Moses Cleaveland had selected 
the site with due deliberation. Nature had evidently pur- 
posed that at this spot should grow up the industrial and 
commercial centre of the vast region to the south and 
west, which must soon be opened to immigration. The 
future of the embryo city was assured, and those who 
were to share in it must pay for their privilege. 

Accordingly, after certain lots bordering upon the public 
square had been reserved for public uses, the remainder — 
each lot containing two acres — were put up for sale, the 
condition of immediate settlement being imposed. The 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 15 

price of these city lots was set at fifty dollars. Other sec- 
tions of ten, twenty and one hundred acres, respectively, 
were offered for three dollars, two dollars and a dollar 
and a half per acre, according to the distance from the city 
limits. These prices may seem somewhat exorbitant for 
the virgin soil of a wilderness. They certainly show that 
the members of the Connecticut Land company were fully 
alive to the expanding promise of the fast-opening west. 
If their reckoning did not include the immediate conditions 
of hardship and struggle, of arduous labor and small re- 
turns, it was chiefly owing to the very amplitude and pen- 
etration of their view, which grasped the result without 
foreseeing the process. 

Six town lots were at once disposed of, the names of the 
purchasers being indicated on the surveyor's map.* These 
men must not be commended — or reproached — for too 
much speculative hardihood. They took lots from the 
company as compensation for their services — and very 
poor compensation they doubtless regarded them. The 
contract which preceded the town survey and subsequent 
assignment of lots had grown out of a dispute the 
3^ear previous between the employes and the officers of 
the company. Through all the multiplied difficulties and 
dangers of frontier life the men had held steadily to their 
appointed tasks of exploration and settlement. Rations 
w^ere scarce and came in slowly. The clothing provided 
for them was ill-suited to the rough usage of forest life, 

* Following i.s a list of the purchasers, the first proprietors of Cleve- 
land : Richard M. Stoddard, Job P. Stiles, Joseph Landon, Mr. Baun, 
Wareham Shepherd, Nathan Chapman. 



16 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

and soon left their naked sides exposed to the fierce at- 
tacks of ravenous mosquitoes that rose in swarms from the 
adjoining swamps. The discontent became so great that 
some definite settlement seemed imperative ; and as soon 
as the surveys could be completed of the region adjacent 
to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, an apportionment was made 
of various lands, partly by way of compensation for ser- 
vice rendered, partly with a view to securing a nucleus for 
future settlement — but always upon condition of actual 
occupancy. The town lots above alluded to, as the sequel 
showed, except for their prospective value, were much less 
desirable than those more remote from the mouth of the 
river. 

During the winter of 1796-7, the surveyors having 
returned to the east, there were but three white persons 
in the city. These were Mr. and Mrs. Stiles, for whom a 
cabin had been built on their town lot, and Edward Paine, 
subsequenth' the founder of Painesville, Ohio. It would 
be interesting to read the records of this winter's history 
— for history there doubtless was, and that of a very seri- 
ous sort to those immediateK' concerned. The records, 
however, are ver\' meagre. Paine traded with the Indians, 
and maintained the best of understanding between the 
infant settlement and the neighboring tribes. But the 
time passed drearily enough in the secluded cabin, and the 
opening spring, we ma}' well imagine, was not unwelcome, 
bringing with it a new settler and later on a fresh survey- 
ing part}' from the east. 

James Kingsbury and wife, journeying through the 
melting snows from Conneaut, arrived at Cleveland in 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 17 

April, 1797, though they did not finally settle in their 
new cabin on the present site of the Case block till the 
June following. The surveyors arrived in June, bearing 
with them the body of one of their number who had been 
drowned while crossing the Grand river. Rev. Seth Hart, 
agent of the company and superintendent for this year, 
conducted the funeral services, the first ever held in Cleve- 
land. At this time the site was chosen for a burial ground 
upon the east side of Ontario street and north of its pres- 
ent junction with Prospect. 

This same month is further noticeable as marking the 
arrival in Cleveland of one of the most celebrated char- 
acters in pioneer history. Major Lorenzo Carter came 
with his family from Rutland, Vermont. He was a man 
of splendid physique, and of an aggressive and energetic 
temperament — the essential qualities of a leader in pioneer 
life. From his first arrival the major's influence was well- 
nigh supreme over the neighboring Indian tribes. The 
early traditions of the Western Reserve abound in inci- 
dents of his prowess and skill. On one occasion a dusky 
prowler was followed to an encampment in the woods, 
where the major discovered the fugitive, and was only 
prevented from hanging him by the solemn promise of 
his comrades that he should never after be allowed to 
visit the settlement. The red-skins firmly believed that 
the redoubtable woodsman was invulnerable to the ordin- 
ary weapons of savage warfare, and that to seek his 
destruction would be but a tempting of fate. Certain it 
is that the unconquerable energy of this brave man, how- 
ever uncouth at times were its manifestations, was a factor 



18 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

of incalculable value in the troublous days of Cleveland's 
early history. 

At this time the surveys were by no means complete. 
The work hitherto had been chiefly in the way of explor- 
ation; the courses of rivers had been traced, and township 
limits marked out wath more or less precision. During 
the summer of 1797, surveys in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of the city were carried on vigorously, with the 
result that by the end of August the "Central," "North" 
and "South" highways, now known respectively as Euclid 
avenue, St. Clair street and Woodland avenue had been 
accurately determined. In January of the following year 
(1798) the stockholders of the Connecticut Land company 
assembled at Hartford, where apportionments were made 
to individual members; Cleveland, with five other town- 
ships, being reserved by the company for sale. 

In the summer of 1798 the little settlement had its first 
serious experience of an enemy, whose attacks were des- 
tined to \vork more mischief than all other evil influences 
combined. The malaria that rose from the swamps ad- 
joining the mouth of the river had long been the dread of 
surveying parties. This year it was peculiarh^ virulent. 
Every member of the three or four families that were set- 
tled in the city proper had periodic attacks of the fever and 
ague. Without proper remedies, and with insufiicient 
supply of vegetable food, no relief could be found till, late 
in autumn, the swamps were hardened by the frost. The 
following spring Nathaniel Doan, the blacksmith, and Mr. 
Hawley, a late arrival from the east, removed with their 
families to the more healthful region of the ridge near New^- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 19 

burgh, whither they had been preceded by Mr. James Kings- 
bury. Their removal reduced the population of Cleveland 
to two families — those of Carter and Spafiford. The major 
and the ex-surveyor kept tavern, dickered with the Indians, 
and cultivated the soil of their city lots. Except for their 
hardy constitutions and untiring energy, the settlement 
would have been abandoned and the beginning of Cleve- 
land's histor}^ indefinitely postponed. From this time 
dates the friendly rivalry between Cleveland and New- 
burgh, of which mention will be made later on. 

The final year of the centur\^ was marked b\' an event of 
no small importance — the opening of a grist-mill at New- 
burgh, the first ever built on the Western Reserve. This 
event was made the occasion of a grand merry-making, in 
which the scattered settlers for miles around participated. 
The next year a saw-mill was erected near the same spot. 
Both mills were the work of Mr. Wheeler W. Williams 
and Major Wyatt, who had lately arrived from Con- 
necticut. 



20 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Erection of Trumbull County— Extent of Cleveland Town- 
ship—The First Civil List— Rivalry with Newburgh— The Bry- 
ants' Distillery— Trade with the Indians— Samuel Huntington 
—Local Autonomy- The First Town Meeting and Its Result- 
Organization OF Militia Districts — Settlement of Indian 
Claims— The Eve of War— General Hull's Surrender— Peijry's 
Victory. 

FOLLOWING upon the settlement of conflicting claims 
on the part of the State of Connecticut and the United 
States government, Governor St. Clair had issued an ordi- 
nance establishing the County of Trumbull, which was to in- 
clude the entire Western Reserve. At this time the appoint- 
ment of township ofiicers was virtually a function of the 
executive, the appointments being made by the Court of 
Quarter Sessions, the members of which were nominated 
b}' the governor. James Kingsbury had been named a 
justice of the Quorum, thereby becoming a justice of the 
Court of Quarter Sessions. Amos Spafford of Cleveland 
was at the same time made a justice of the peace. 

Cleveland was then an immense territor^^ embracing the 
townships of Chester, Russell and Bainbridge, that portion 
of Cuyahoga county now lying east of the river, and the 
unoccupied Indian country extending to the west line of 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 21 

the Reserve. At the first meeting of the court at Warren, 
in August, 1800, the township divisions having been de- 
termined, an appointment of constables was made for 
each township, those for Cleveland being Lorenzo Carter 
and Stephen Gilbert . The constabular}^ thus chosen formed 
the first civil list of the Western Reserve. In Cleveland, at 
least, the position could scarcely have been regarded as a 
sinecure, the major and his associates having charge of a 
territory some two thousand three hundred square miles in 
extent. As, however, the larger portion of this huge town- 
ship was still in possession of the Indians, it may be as- 
sumed that the actual duties of the ofiice were not so ardu- 
ous as might at first appear. 

The city at the mouth of the river, though its area of 
cleared land was extended year by year, increased but 
slowly in numbers. The rival settlement on the ridge — 
Newburgh, as it came to be called — had the great advan- 
tage of a healthful location ; and this wassufiicient till the 
period of canals and opening traffic with the west, to 
secure it an equal if not a dominant influence. Such 
arrivals as there were, however, were accommodated at 
the taverns of Major Carter and AmosSpafiford, who soon 
after obtained regular hotel licenses from the Court of 
Quarter Sessions. 

Among other noteworthy incidents of these years should 
be mentioned the arrival of David and Gilman Bryant from 
Virginia, bringing with them a still, which they at once 
established and began to operate at the foot of Superior 
street. The settlers were thus enabled to convert their 
grain into a product better suited to the slow and difficult 



22 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

transportation of those days. We are assured, further- 
more, that the presence of a distillery on the river bank did 
much to facilitate trade with the neighboring red-skins. 
The public conscience of the time v^as not, seemingly, so 
sensitive as at present to the evils of intemperance ; per- 
haps, among other reasons, from the fact that intemper- 
ance among those hardy and laborious pioneers seldom 
reached the verge of debauchery. 

The year 1801 saw the arrival of a man who was des- 
tined to attain the highest honors of the State. Samuel 
Huntington, of aristocratic New England connections, 
came to Cleveland with the expectation of building up a 
lucrative law practice in what he supposed was soon to 
become a thriving western town. Fortunately for him, 
the disappointment of this hope did not deter him from 
other lines of advancement. He w^as successively made an 
ajDpraiser of houses, a lieutenant in the county militia, 
and, in January, 1802, a justice of Quorum. He after- 
ward entered politics and represented Trumbull county in 
the Ohio State Senate. In 1803 he was made a judge of 
the Supreme Court, his commission being the first issued 
under the authority of the State. Subsequently, Mr. 
Huntington served an honored term as governor of Ohio. 

In 1802 Governor St. Clair had been compelled to yield 
a point in favor of local self-government, and had granted 
to townships the privilege of choosing their own officials. 
The result of the first town meeting, held at the residence 
of Judge Kingsbury, will appear from the following report 
of the clerk, Mr. Nathaniel Doan : 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 23 

Chairman, Rudolphus Edwards; trustees, Amos Spafford, Timothy 
Doan, Wm. W. Williams; appraisers of houses, Samuel Hamilton, Elijah 
Gun ; lister, Ebenezer Aj^rs ; supervisors of highvvaj', Samuel Hunting- 
ton, Nathaniel Doan, Samuel Hamilton ; fence viewers, Lorenzo Carter, 
Nathan Chapman ; constables, Ezeikel Hawle3', Richard Craw. 

These official dignities seem not to have been very seduc- 
tive; for, during the years immediately following, we 
repeatedly find prominent citizens "utterly refusing" to 
take upon themselves the functions that had been assigned 
them, preferring to pay the penalty stipulated for failure 
to serve. 

In 1804 Trumbull county was erected into a militia 
district. A meeting of members of the Fourth Company 
district (that of Cleveland) was held at the house of James 
Kingsbury, at which the following officers were elected: 
captain, Lorenzo Carter; lieutenant, Nathaniel Doan; 
ensign, Samuel Jones. It appears that the aggressive 
Carter had, as usual, aroUvSed the enmity of certain of his 
associates, for a remonstrance was drawn up and signed 
by eight citizens, praying that the election might be set 
aside. Nothing was done, however, and the difficulty 
seems to have been composed. 

In 1805 treaties were signed at Cleveland with the chiefs 
of those Indian tribes that held unsettled claims to that 
portion of the Reserve lying west of the Cuyahoga river. 
This territory was surveyed and divided into townships. 
The same year, it should be added, the Cleveland post-office 
was established, with Elivsha Morton as postmaster. 

There is but little to chronicle of the period intervening 
before the war. As before, there was an abundance of toil, 



24 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

seasoned by rude sport and adventure— ordinary incidents 
of frontier life. Among the few arrivals of this time should 
be mentioned Dr. David Long, and Alfred Kelly, Esq., a 
young lawyer, both of whom came in 1810. Mr. Kelly 
enjoyed the distinction of being the first practicing lawyer 
of Cleveland. 

The dull routine w^as roughly broken by the outbreak of 
war in 1812. In August General Hull surrendered at De- 
troit. The news was received at Cleveland with terror 
and confusion. It was expected that the British and their 
savage allies would soon appear before the defenseless 
town. Many families abandoned their homes and started 
eastward, \vith no definite purpose in view save to put as 
great distance as possible between themselves and the 
scene of danger. Those who remained, recruited by occa- 
sional arrivals from the adjoining country, formed them- 
selves into a quasi brigade, numbering about fifty men. 
On the night of August 17, the sentinels posted along the 
water front reported an approaching vessel, which, it was 
soon learned, bore the paroled soldiers of the army that 
General Hull had so ignobh' surrendered the day before. A 
company of militia was soon afterward formed in Cleve- 
land and vicinity. Following is the company roll : 

Captain, Harvey Murraj- ; lieutenant, Lewis Dille; ensign, Alfred 
Kelly; sergeants, Ebenezer Green, Simeon Moss, Thomas Hamilton, Seth 
Doan; corporals, James Root, John Lauterman, Asa Dille, Martin G. 
Shelhouse, drummer, David S. Tyler; fifer, Rodolphus Carleton; pri- 
vates, Aretus Burk, Allen Burk, Charles Brandon, John Bishop, Moses 
Bradley, Silas Burk, Sylvester Beacher, James S. Bills, John Carlton, 
Mason Clark, Anthony Doyle, Luther Dille, Samuel Dille, Samuel Dodge, 
Moses Eldred Samuel Evarts, Ebenezer Fish, Zebulon R. S. Freeman, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 25 

Robert Harberson, Daniel S. Judd, Jackson James, John James, Stephen 
King, Guy Lee, Jacob Mingus. William McConkey, Thomas Mcllrath, 
Samuel Noyes, David Reed, John Sweenej^ Parker Shadrick, Luther 
Sterns, Bazaleel Thorp, John Taylor, Thomas Thomas, Hartman Van 
Duzen, Joseph Williams, Matthew Williamson. John Wrightman, Wil- 
liam White, Joseph Burk, Robert Prentis, Benjamin Ogden. 

It were needless to trace in detail the events of this 
troubled period up to the time of Perry's splendid victory, 
September 10, 1813. The region never ceased to resound 
with the din of warlike preparation. The militia was 
organized, stockades were erected, and companies formed 
for the general defence. When peace came it brought with 
it a more propitious outlook for the future of the Western 
Reserve. Immigration began to get in, and although the 
struggling village was destined still for much discourage- 
ment and hardship, yet the foundation of its iuture great- 
ness was being laid in the increasing prosperity of the 
region about her 



26 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Village of Cleveland — Building and Improvement — Beginning 
OF Cleveland JorRNALisM— The Old Academy— Bits of Corpor- 
ate Legislation — The First Fire Engine — The County-Seat 
Controversy — Preliminaries to the Canal — From Cleveland 
TO Akron by WATEk — Government Appropriations for Harbor 
Improvements— Population in 1825— Land Specitlation- Advan- 
tages of Corpokatk Organization. 

ON December 23, 1814, the General Assembly of the 
State of Ohio passed an act "to incorporate the 
village of Cleveland, in the County of Cuyahoga."" Ac- 
cording to a provision of this act, the first village election 
occurred on the first Monday of June, 1815. The election 
resulted in the choice of the following officers : — President, 
Alfred Kelly; recorder, Horace Perry; treasurer, Alonzo 
Carter ; trustees, Samuel Williamson, David Long, Nathan 
Perry, jr.; marshal, John A. Ackley ; assessors, George 
Wallace, John Riddle. 

At this time the business and residence portion of the 
town was confined to Water street and that portion of 
Superior street lying between the river and the public 
square. The following year, at the petition of numerous 
citizens, the board of trustees ordered that "the said 

*See appendix. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 27 

several streets, in said petition mentioned and described, 
should be severally known by the following names, to-wnt : 
the first, St. Clair; the second, Bank; the third, Seneca; 
the fourth. Wood; the fifth, Bond; the sixth, Euclid; the 
seventh. Diamond.'' Now, as before, the action was with 
a view to prospective needs, the population at that time 
not much exceeding one hundred persons. 

The public buildings of the period were few and unpre- 
tentious. In 1809, after the formation of Cuyahoga 
county, Cleveland had been chosen as the county-seat, in 
preference to Newburgh, a rival of no mean pretensions. 
It -was not, however, till 1813, during the tumult and 
alarm of war, that the first court-house was built, near 
the spot occupied by the present structure. In 1816 vari- 
ous sums of money had been subscribed by individuals for 
the building of a school-house. On the thirteenth of Janu- 
ary, 1817, the trustees of the village met and enacted that 
all such funds should be returned to the several subscribers, 
and that the corporation should be the sole proprietors of 
said school-house. The building was erected the same ^^ear, 
on the present site of the Kennard House. This school, it 
should be remembered, was not free. The town furnished 
the building, but the terms for tuition were in each case 
arranged with the teachers. In this old school-house 
preaching was had whenever the services of a minister 
could be secured. It was not until 1820 that a pastor. 
Rev. Randolph Stone of Ashtabula county, was engaged 
to preach regularly every other Sunday. The year 1817 is 
further noteworthy as marking the first permanent settle- 
ment of Brooklyn, afterwards knowm as Ohio City. 



28 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

On the thirty-first of July, 1818, appeared the first issue 
of the Cleveland Gazette and Commercial Register— the 
beginning of Cleveland journalism. It was a fitful publi- 
cation, appearing at intervals of from one to three weeks, 
according to the chance supply of news and paper. In 
October of the following year the Herald was started. 
Through various vicissitudes it has survived to our day, 
nov/ appearing, united nominally with its Republican 
contemporary, the Cleveland Leader. Following upon 
these newspaper enterprises, and perhaps suggested by 
them, was the building of the old Academ}- in 1821. This 
was a work of private enterprise, erected at the expense 
of individual citizens. It bears sufficient testimon}^ to 
the intelligence and enterprise of a community which did 
not 3^et number four hundred inhabitants. 

The corporate legislation of the years following 1815 
is very stiggestive of the prevailing conditions in a new 
and struggling community. In 1816 a tax of one-half 
percent, was levied on all lots in the township. In June, 
1818, an ordinance was passed forbidding any persons 
to discharge a gun or pistol within the village, the penalty 
being a fine not to exceed five dollars. Animals were not 
allowed to run at large in the street ; butchering was pro- 
hibited within corporation limits, except by special permit ; 
horse racing and fast driving were forbidden. In 1825 a 
tax of one-fourth per cent, was levied, and in 1828 another 
of two mills per dollar. These various assessments were 
the occasion of no small out cry on the part of tax-payers. 
At this early time Cleveland was not without embarrass- 
ments arising from the want of a trustworthy medium of ex- 



HISTORY OF CLEVKLAND. 29 

change. Early in 1818 the difficult\'had become so serious 
that a meeting of citizens was called, and the following 
measure carried : 

Cleveland, January 24, 1818. 
We, the subscribers, inhabitants of the village of Cleveland, consider- 
ing the great and general evil arising from the multiplicity of small bills 
in circulation, do hereby pledge ourselves that from and after the first 
day of April next we will not receive in payment anj^ private bills of any 
description whatever, nor any other bills, for which current money can- 
not be demanded and received on demand. (Signed by)* 
J. R. and I. Kelley. Daniel Kelley, 

Thomas Rumage, S. S. Dudley, 

George Wallace, Donald Mclntoshe, 

Noble H. Merwin, Leonard Case, 

Wm. Bliss, S. Nechley, 

Jonathan Johnson, Samuel L. Williamson, 

Cullen Richmond, David Long, 

Cyrus Prentiss, Phineas Sheapard, 

Luther Chapin, Levi Johnson, 

Wm. Oarford, George Perkham, 

George Pease, James Hyndman, 

George G. Hills, Horace Perry, 

Nathan Perry, Henry Mowney, 

David Jones, Amasa Bailey. 

In 1829 the population of Cleveland had reached the 
number of nearly one thousand. Building had for some 
time been going on quite briskly, and numerous frame 
structures, of some pretentions for those days, were tak- 
ing the place of earlier log cabins. We accordingly find in 
this year an appropriation of two hundred and eighty-five 
dollars for a fire engine. This event marks the beginning 
of the Cleveland fire department. 

* From a paper in possession of Trad Kelley and heirs. 



30 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

The year 1826 brought to a close the rivalry that had 
long existed between Cleveland and Newburg. The old 
court-house, which had been completed to the music of 
Perry's guns, having become unequal to the needs of the 
growing community, it was determined to erect a new 
building. This decision was a signal for renewing the old 
contest as to the location of the county-seat. Newburg 
had begun to fall behind in point of nimibers, but she was 
still a formidable rival, possessing sufficient influence and 
support to make the hght a very close one. The question 
came before the peojile in the form of an election to fill a 
vacancy in the board of county commissioners. The de- 
cision in favor of Cleveland was reached only by a small 
majority. 

We come now to the consideration of what may prop- 
erly be called the elemental factors in the industrial devel- 
opment of Cleveland — the Ohio canal and the harbor 
improvements of 1825 and the years following. An act 
providing for the construction of a canal to connect the 
Ohio river and Lake Erie passed the legislature February 24, 
1825. Two routes were available ; one by way of Wooster 
and down the valley of the Black river, the other through 
the Cuyahoga vallc}- to Cleveland. The decision between 
these two routes rCvSted with a board of canal commission- 
ers, among whom was Alfred Kelly, Esq., of Cleveland. 
It was largely due to his enthusiasm and public spirit that 
the choice was made in favor of the Cuyahoga route. 
While the work was in progress Mr. Kelly was acting 
commissioner, having full administrative control. It is to 
his credit that the entire cost did not exceed the orig-inal 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 31 

estimates— a circumstance unparalleled in the history of 
like enterprises. Juh^ 4, 1827, the canal was opened from 
Cleveland to Akron, and the occasion was celebrated with 
great enthusiasm. Just five years later the great water 
way was completed from Lake Erie to the Ohio river, and 
the vast and fertile regions of Central Ohio were for the 
first time laid open to commerce. The most sanguine pre- 
dictions of an earlier day now proved to have been well 
founded. Among the receipts of the canal in ISSi, two 
years from its opening, appear the following items : Up- 
wards of five hundred thousand bushels of wheat, one 
hundred thousand barrels of flour, one million pounds of 
butter, seventy thousand pounds of cheese, and othet 
products in like proportion. 

Previous to 1825 one of the most serious disadvantages 
which retarded the growth of Cleveland was the kick of 
adequate harbor facilities. From the first settlement of 
the place every business activity had been inaugurated 
and carried on with constant view to the belief that the 
port of Cleveland was to become the chief mercantile em- 
porium of Northern Ohio. And such it was evidently des- 
tined to become. But a harbor of trustworthv depth and 
bottom was an essential factor in the prospect ; and such 
a harbor Cleveland at this time did not possess. In the 
session of 1824-25, the matter having been brought to the 
attention of Congress, an appropriation of five thousand 
dollars was secured, the expenditure of which was en- 
trusted to Mr. Ashbel Walworth, customs collector of the 
northern district. No accurate survey had been attempted, 
and the whole matter was left to the good judgment of 



32 HISTORY OF clp:vela\d. 

Mr. Walworth and his advisers. The aim was to secure a 
clear channel bv preventing further encroachment of sand- 
drift which, during a greater part of the 3^ear, obstructed 
the mouth of the river. It was therefore determined to 
extend a pier a sufficient distance into the lake, from the 
east shore of the river, to counteract the action of the 
prevailing northeast winds. Such a pier was constructed, 
absorbing the entire amount of the government grant; 
but, strange to say, it proved utterh^ unequal to the task 
proposed. The drift w^as as persistent as ever, and the 
channel remained precarious or impassable. 

In October of the same year a meeting was called, which 
included all the business men of the place, and a sufficient 
sum was raised to send Mr. Walworth to Washington, 
with a view to securing another and a larger appropria- 
tion. The result was a second grant, this time of ten 
thousand dollars, and the deputation of Major T. W. 
Maurice, of the United States engineer corps, for the work 
of harbor survey. The plan now adopted was to change 
the channel of the river, making it pass eastward of the 
Walworth pier. A second pier was to be built for the 
protection of the east bank of the new channel, which 
would run between the two structures. The work of 
Major Maurice, with the extension afterwards made, 
proved entirely successful, and a good harbor was at last 
secured. The government soon supplemented its w^ork by 
the erection (in 1830) of a light-house at the north end of 
Water street, appropriating therefor eight thousand 
dollars. 

In 1825 the population of Cleveland was about five 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 33 

hundred. Ten years later, through the action of causes 
above traced, it numbered as many thousand. The village 
of Brooklyn had shared in this prosperity and had attained 
a population of nearly two thousand. The communities 
on both sides of the river were in the first flush of a real 
estate boom. In Cleveland the section now known as the 
£ats was purchased in 1836 by Mr. John W. Willey and 
Mr. James S. Clark. They proposed to make this immed- 
iately a prominent business and residence section. They 
accordingly divided their land into lots which they offered 
for sale at immoderately high prices, investing the money 
thus secured in building and improvements. With a view 
to diverting a portion of the trade to their part of the 
town these enterprising gentlemen built a bridge to the 
West Side from the foot of Columbus street, which laud- 
able undertaking led, a year or two later, to the celebrated 
" Battle of the bridge." 

Across the river in Brooklyn the spirit of speculation 
ran a parallel course. About the time of the Willey and 
Clark enterprise an association of capitalists, known as 
the Buffalo company, bought up an extensive tract near 
the river, with the expectation of re-selling within a few 
months at an enormous profit. 

From our point of view it would seem that the interests of 
these communities were substantially identical— that their 
growth and prosperity would proceed in common. To be 
sure the canal was on the east side; but inasmuch as it 
could not very well be on both sides, it was certainly far 
better to have it where it was than in anj^ quarter more 
remote. Considerations of this sort were not lacking, 



34 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

and they were doubtless presented with sufficient force. 
When it was proposed to obtain city charters from 
the legislature, discerning men on both sides urged the ex- 
pediency of uniting the two villages under a single city 
government. But the rivalry was far too bitter and noth- 
ing was accomplished in this direction. United, or dis- 
united, however, a city charter was clearly desirable for 
both commvmities. The first Cleveland directory, published 
in 1837, thus quaintly puts it : 

Sundry things were done ; sundry hills and streets were graded, to the 
great satisfaction of some and dissatisfaction of others. Some six or 
eight thousand of inhabitants had come together from the four winds ; 
some wished to do more things and some wished to do things better; 
and to effect all these objects, and a variet}- of others, no means seemed 
so ])roper as a city charter in due form and st^'le. 

City charters in due form and style were accordingly se- 
cured — one for Cleveland and one for Ohio City ; the latter 
place, by some hook or crook, getting the precedence in 
point of time. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 35 



CHAPTER V. 

The Two Charters— Description of Cleveland— Versatile Men- 
First City Election— A Hopeful Outlook— Prosperity from 
THE Canal — Early Methods of Transportation— Beginning of 
Railroad Enterprise— The Various Schemes— Liberal Charters 
—Financial Disaster— Battle of the Bridge. 

THE charter of the city of Cleveland was obtained 
March 5, 1836; that of Ohio City two days earlier. 
The population of Cleveland was then nearly six thousand, 
ivhile Ohio City had about one-third that number. Not- 
withstanding the great strides that had been made in 
che year immediately preceding, the two cities and the 
country adjacent bore all the marks and signs of a frontier 
situation. Everything was new, although to be sure, 
everything was aggressive and enterprising. Log houses 
had not entirely disappeared, but frame structures were 
plentiful. Brick buildings were scarce. Euclid street had, 
however, begun its career of splendor with a dwelling 
house of that material near the present site of the Union 
Club. The avenues that now stretch out in splendid vistas 
of lawn and mansion were then unbroken forest land, the 
haunt of wild animals. Indeed, for some years afterward 
the deer and the bear were frequently caught within what 
are now citv limits. 



36 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

At this time, of course, the business of the place was 
confined to shipping and exchange. It had been the depot 
of sale and supply for the sparse agricultural population 
of the neighboring country. Henceforth it was to perform 
a like function for the vast and fertile region stretching 
for hundreds of miles to the south, east and west. The 
change that was beginning to work was the change from 
a provincial town to a metropolis. 

It is a remarkable fact that young communities, in the 
first flush of their vigorous development, have a wonderful 
faculty for turning out versatile and able men. Whether 
the men come of their own accord, or whether the environ- 
ment makes them, we need not stop to enquire ; the im- 
portant fact is that they are on the ground. Cleveland, in 
her early days, was no exception to the rule. A gentleman, 
now living in the east, who was familiar with the place at 
this time, has given, in a letter published some years since 
in the Leader, an interesting account of the sociable and 
wide-awake Cleveland of early city charter days. There 
was small wealth and less formalit}^ but there was an 
abundance of self-respect and invigorating converse. The 
Cleveland bar at that time numbered some of the ablest 
men of its entire history. Among them were Reuben Wood, 
John W. Allen, S. J. Andrews, Samuel Starkweather, Samuel 
Cowles, Leonard Case, Sr., John W. Willey and John M. Ster- 
ling. It must not be supposed that these men and their con- 
temporaries were confined in their activities to the special 
labor of a single profession or pursuit . They were all things 
to all men — or rather to all emergencies — if by any means 
they might accomplish something in the public behoof. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 37 

In accordance with a provision of the act incorporating 
the city of Cleveland, the first municipal election was held 
April 15, 1836, resulting in the choice of the following 
officers: John W. Willey, mayor; Richard Killiard, Nich- 
olas Dockstader, Joshua Mills, aldermen; Morris Hepburn, 
John R. St. John, William V. Craw,* Sherlock J. Andrews, 
Henry L. Noble, Edward Baldwin. Aaron Strickland, 
Horace Canfield and Archibald M. T. Smith, councilmen. 

Probabi}' at no period in its history have the residents 
of Cleveland been so sanguine of immediate and un- 
bounded prosperity as at the time of the city charter. The 
press abounded in glowing predictions — and the press 
hardly voiced the hopes of its patrons. Every man 
had the prospect of opulence in the advancing tide of 
immigration from the east, and he saw the measure of his 
coming greatness in the quantity of land which could be 
held in anticipation of enormous prices that must soon 
prevail. Indeed, the outlook was sufficiently cheering for 
any reasonable ambition. A great public work had been 
successfull}^ carried through and the in terior of a great State 
opened to commerce. Moreover, this commerce was al- 
ready a reality — something that could be seen and handled 
any da\^ along the wharves and in the warehouses at the 
mouth of the river. During the decade that had elapsed 
since the first opening of the canal from Akron to Lake 
Erie, the exchange and shipping business of Cleveland had 
increased enormously, amounting in 1836 to nearly one- 
fourth of the entire products of the State. Not only was 

* Mr. W. V. Craw is the only surviving member of the first cit}' council, 



38 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Cleveland the medium and benefieiary of this extensive 
trade with the interior; she was also the metropolis and 
commercial center of the Western Reserve, a region which, 
since the war of 1812, had been steadily growing m wealth 
and population; the county of Cuyahoga alone — exclusive 
of Cleveland — numbering in 1836 upwards of fifteen 
thousand inhabitants. Communication with this neigh- 
boring region was, however, very unsatisfactory. High- 
ways were poor — little better in fact than in the early 
days of settlement — and the only means of -transportation 
were huge primitive wagons, constructed with a view^ to 
all the exigencies of heavy loads and unfathomable mud. 
The opening of the canal, wath its attendant prosperity, 
had suggested the desirableness of improved methods of 
communication between Cleveland and the adjoining 
towms. We accordingly find, in 1835, the first mention 
of an enterprise, or series of enterprises, which were con- 
tinued, with various interruptions, till the railway system 
of Northern Ohio was well under way. This pioneer ven- 
ture, known as the • Cleveland & Newburg railroad, has 
noplace in our account of industries, as it was merely a pa- 
per enterprise and was never constructed. It is worthy of 
m#ntion only as the precursor to numerous projects, suc- 
cessful and otherwise, of a like nature, and as being the 
occasion of an all-around discussion that did much to- 
wards clearing up public opinion on various questions re- 
lating to commerce and exchange. 

The second railway of the Reserve — this time a reality — 
was a tramway of hewed timber connecting the stone 
quarries of East Cleveland with the city, its western ter- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 39 

minus being near the present site of the Forest City House. 
The motive power was, of course, furnished b}- horses, and 
the business of the road was confined to the hauhng of 
freight. The road proved an expensive venture and was 
soon abandoned, but the old timbers remained an eye- 
sore along Euclid street for some years afterwards. 

The same year another enterprise was begun — one of 
more pretensions than those just described. This was the 
famous Ohio railroad, of unpropitious memory. For some 
years the need had been deeply felt of more trustworthy 
communication between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the 
thriving metropolis of Western Pennsylvania. It was 
urged by those who advocated the enterprise that railway 
connection between these points would bring to the 
port of Cleveland a trade scarcely less important than 
that which reached it by way of the canal. About this 
time the Hudson Bay company purchased through Cleve- 
land dealers, for use in their northern settlements, a large 
proportion of the entire product of the State for that 
year. This incident was eagerly seized upon as indicating 
the growing importance of shipping interests, and the 
necessity of securing a wider area for supply. The pre- 
diction was confidently made that all the exports of the 
newly opened west would shortly find their outlet through 
the great lakes, shipped direct to Europe from the port 
of Cleveland — or from that port chiefly. In this connec- 
tion it should be borne in mind that no commercial per- 
spective, so to speak, was at that time possible. The 
industry of the west was agricultural, and this industry 
was confined to a limited region of lake shore and river 



40 HISTORY OF CLEVEI,.\ND. 

valley lying east of the Mississippi. The network of 
railways that now connects the vast and fertile stretches 
of the inland States was then unknown, and the States 
themselves, for the most part, unexplored; but they were 
rich enough in promise, and their situation and imagined 
fertility seemed clearly to indicate a great future for navi- 
gation on the lakes. The railway scheme, therefore, was 
one of no small popularity— especially when the plan was 
modified by theproposal toextend theroad from the Penn- 
sylvania line to the western boundary of Ohio, where 
a terminus had been decided upon in the shape of an 
imaginary city, which was named Manhattan. 

The enterprise w^as incorporated as the Ohio Railroad, 
the State being a purchaser of stock to the amount of one 
hundred thousand dollars. By virtue of a clause in its 
charter the corporation was empowered to issue notes on 
its own credit and conduct a general banking business. 
This function it proceeded to exercise, and that in a most 
liberal fashion. Work was at once begun at various points 
along tho intended line, the company's scrip being taken 
in payment without the slightest demur. As if by uncon- 
scious forecast of failure, it was decided to dispense as far 
as possible with grading, substituting therefor an exten- 
sive line of trestle-w^ork, which, it was believed, would 
furnish a sufficiently strong foundation. In 1837, in com- 
mon with many a scheme whose basis was more steadfast, 
the Ohio railroad was abandoned and its corporate rights 
transferred to other hands. 

In March, 1836, a charter was granted by the legisla- 
ture to the Cleveland, Columbus '& Cmcmnati railroad. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 41 

The financial crash of 1837 came on apace, and operations 
were suspended for nine years. In March, 1845, the orig- 
inal charter was amended and the work carried forward 
to a successful outcome. 

At the same session of the legislature, in March, 1836, 
the Cleveland, Warren & Pittsburgh road was chartered, 
providing for the construction of a railroad between Cleve- 
land and the Pennsylvania line, w^here it might connect 
with anyroad already established in that State. The act of 
incorporation vested in the directors discretionary powders 
ol the most ample sort. They might issue stock to any 
amount, choose their own route, and determine what 
motive power should be employed. This enterprise, with 
some modifications in the original plan, was revived in the 
more prosperous days of the next decade and brought to 
a successful issue. 

The hard times and panic of 1837, which brought to ruin 
nearly every business establishment in the Western Reserve, 
were occasioned by the financial innovations of President 
Jackson's administration. Injuly, 1836, the secretary of the 
treasury issued the famous specie circular, which directed 
that thenceforth all payments for public lands should be in 
specie or specie certificates. In the Ma\^ following, conse- 
quent upon the influx of worthless paper from the west, the 
banks of New York were compelled to suspend specie pay- 
ments. The panic that followed was simply a reaction of nat- 
ural forces, the inevitable outcome of an unlimited and unse- 
cured paper circulation. We have seen what confusion fol- 
low^ed on the Western Reserve, and especially at Cleveland, 
the metropolis of that thriving region. Enterprises of all 



42 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

sorts were palsied. City lots owned by the land com- 
panies of Ohio City and Cleveland, which shortly before had 
sold for prices enormously above their actual value, could 
no longer be disposed of on any terms. It was a period of 
purging and of sobering, from which the city emerged to 
enter upon a career of substantial prosperity. 

It may be that the misfortunes of the time, with their 
attenda,nt anxieties and disappointments, tended to make 
the strained relations of an unreal competition still more 
strained between the rival cities at the mouth of the Cu}'- 
ahoga. At all events, the autumn of 1837 saw the cul- 
mination of a long-standing feud in what is known to his- 
tory as the Battle of the Bridge. 

This affair marked the culmination of a rivalry that had 
first become serious two years before, the occasion of which 
we have already alluded to. Mr. Clark and his associates, 
upon the completion of the Columbus Street bridge, had 
thrown it open to the public use, without let or hindrance 
and with no exaction of tolL The purpose of these gentle- 
men will readily appear when account is taken of the 
extensive interests possessed by them on the Cleveland side ; 
interests which would he enlarged in no small degree by 
the opening of a highway through the Ilats that should 
connect the city with the thriving settlements to the west 
and south. Just at this point the clash was felt. The 
advantage for Cleveland measured the disadvantage for 
Ohio City. There was here no community of interests, but 
a very real and ver}- serious antagonism. Every cart- 
load of produce that went to Cleveland over the new 
bridge was so much lost to the enterprise of the Pearl 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 43 

street shop-keeper; and he felt very much too sore to 
make any abatement for the rights of competition. Self- 
interest soon appeared in the garb of public spirit. Meet- 
ings were held, and the high indignation mounted higher. 
The bridge was declared a nuisance, and the marshal of 
Ohio City was authorized by the council to abate it with- 
out delay. The order was carried out at great expense 
of gun-powder, but with small effect upon the integrity of 
the obnoxious structure. Nothing disheartened, the war 
went on, though for a time the efforts of both parties 
w^ere confined to a vigorous expression of deep resentment 
through the medium of the public press. At length a point 
was reached where a more tangible utterance seemed 
unavoidable. The citizens of the west side were deter- 
mined that the bridge should go; the Clevelanders were 
equally determined that it should remain. Prepara- 
tions arranged, the belligerents assembled for the final 
tilt. The Reverend Dr. Pickands, who led the west-side 
patriots, offered a prayer for the triumph of justice and then 
conducted his forces to the attack. This attack, unfortu- 
nately for the dignity of our narrative, was not of an heroic 
type. An old field-piece, which had done good service for 
many years in patriotic celebrations, was posted at the 
Cleveland end of the bridge, where its grim suggestion 
might give due warning to the approaching enemy. The 
warning was sufficient ; for the attack w^as not maintained 
with much spiril?, and the contestants soon withdrew, 
after a crazy volley of stones and bullets— while the bridge 
still stood to serve the purposes for which it had been 
erected. 



44 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Proceedings of the Council— First School Board — Temperance 
Reform— Inauguration of New Conditions— Mayor Dockstader's 
Address— Retrenchment of Municipal Expenditure — Common 
Schools— Organization of a Lyceum- Pro-Slavery Law of Ohio 
—The Incident of 1841— The Young Men's Literary Association 
—First High School. 

THE interval from the panic to 1840 was one of com- 
plete exhaustion. The cit}' made no increase in 
population. Spent energies were being recovered, but they 
were not yet fit for action. There was still the trade with 
the interior, which no financial depression could have 
checked entirely ; and the neighboring townships, with 
their fertile soil and industrious population, still looked to 
Cleveland as the center of sale and exchange. The prevail- 
ing conditions are reflected in the local legislation. A 
view is taken to the needs of a provincial communit}^ 
without the old-time hankering for remote and dubious 
advantages. 

On July 7, 1837, the council resolved to borrow fifty 
thousand dollars on the credit of the city, for the erection 
of markets and school-houses — "to defray the expenses of 
which it would not be good policy to tax the citizens." 
Soon after a market was built on Michigan street, for the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 45 

management of which an elaborate set of regulations was 
adopted. This same session the city engineer was directed 
to prepare a map of the city, showing the division into 
lots, etc. A board of school managers was organized, the 
first appointees being John W. Willey, Anson Haydon and 
Daniel Worley. This board was empowered to appropri- 
ate a specified sum annually for the comm.on schools, to 
provide buildings and apparatus, and to secure suitable 
instructors. On August 7, a resolution was adopted di- 
recting the board of school managers to purchase the Acad- 
em\' at the corner of St. Clair and Academy- streets. This 
year a petition was presented which anticipated a reform 
of recent years. The petitioners praj^ed that the granting 
of licenses be restricted, and that the sale of liquors on 
Sundays be entirely prohibited. This movement, as w^e 
shall see, was followed up vigorously in succeeding years.* 
The year 1840 opened with a brighter outlook for the 
city. Not that years of disaster had left behind them no 
traces in public and private indebtedness, and in the burden 
of increasing taxation ; but the time was one of recovery 
and advance, following upon a long period of retrogres- 
sion. In his opening address to the city council. Ma}' or 
Dockstader, referring to the somewhat delicate financial 
status of the city, urged the necessity of economy in public 
expenditure, and advised immediate retrenchment of oflficial 

* tn 1830 the whole number of vessels owned at the port of 
Cleveland was fifteen; in 1831, nineteen; in 1832, twenty-seven; in 
1833, twenty-seven; in 1834, thirty-three; in 1835, thirty-eight; in 
1836, forty; in 1837, sixty-three; in 1838, sixty-seven; in 1839, sixt3'- 
six ; in 1840, sixtv-six. 



46 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

salaries. Actingunder this advice, the council, in February 
of the following year, moved that an amendment be se- 
cured to the city charter forbidding the payment to any 
city official of a larger compensation than two hundred 
dollars per annum. A suggestive incident may be men- 
tioned in this connection — the payment from the public 
treasury of upwards of four thousand dollars for expenses 
incurred at an elaborate official reception. This sort of 
outlay is not, seemingU', of so modern an origin as some 
have supposed. 

We have seen that in 1837 a board of school managers 
had been appointed, with general supervisory functions. 
Public schools were at once organized in the old Academy 
building, which had been rented for that purpose. Two 
years later, July, 1839, the city purchased the building and 
lot for six thousand dollars. This building, and others 
that had been provided, not sufficing for immediate needs, 
the council determined to erect two additional buildings 
at a cost of three thousand dollars, five hundred dollars 
each. The new quarters were ready for occupation at the 
opening of the winter session of 1840. During this session 
nine hundred pupils were in attendance under sixteen in- 
structors.* 

* Following: is the order of exercises in the Prospect Street school : 
Forenoon : Scripture Reading, Class in English Reader, Porter's Rhetor- 
ical Reader, Historical Reader, Angell's No. 2 Reader, First Class in 
Smith's Geography, Second Class in Smith's Geography, Parley's History 
of the United States, Smith's Grammar, Class in Spelling, Third Class in 
Spelling. Afternoon: Historical Reader, Angell's No. 2 Reader, Kirk- 
ham's Grammar, Adams' Arithmetic, Smith's Arithmetic, Second Class 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 47 

The reorganized school system was followed, in 1840, 
by a lyceum and debating club, supported by the \'oung 
men of the place. Duringthe winter lectures and musical en- 
tertainments were given, which called forth the best of local 
talent. Additional zest was sometimes given by the pres- 
ence of a distinguished speaker from abroad. The lectures 
of that day were not such as would please a more modern 
audience. They were ver\' long — and they were very prosy. 
This was not the fault of the audience or of the speaker. 
The speaker was intelligent and the audience was appre- 
ciative. It was rather the misfortune — or perhaps the 
good fortune — of the time. Winter evenings in the western 
town of forty years ago were not crowded with intellect- 
ual variety. There may well have been an abundance of 
intellectual vigor, but the matter for its exercise was lim- 
ited . There was sufficient time and energy for the thorough 
handling of a deep subject. The lecturers of the day were 
expected to do this, and they usually did it. 

The year 1841 was an eventful one for the colored resi- 
dents of the Western Reserve. This region had never been 
backward in displaying substantial sympathy towards the 
fugitives who made it their sanctuary and point of depart- 
ure; although no steady and effectual means of relief 
could often be ventured on in face of existing State and 
National legislation. Ohio at that time had a Code de 
Noir as stringent as the most jealous slave-owner could 
reasonably have demanded. Among others was a statute 
which prohibited any negro or mulatto from becoming a 

in Arithmetic, Third Class in Arithmetic, .\lgebra. Natural Philosophy, 
Spelling. — ' Freeze's History of the Cleveland Schools.' 



48 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

citizen of" the State without first presenting a certificate, 
signed by the judge and clerk of a circuit court, certifying 
that the holder was legally entitled to his freedom. Al- 
though the public sentiment of the State — and more espec- 
ially was it true of the Western Reserve — denied the obliga- 
tion of these laws, the\' nevertheless served a purpose in 
preventing active measures for the relief of captured fugi- 
tives. Up to 1841 it had been the custom in Cleveland to 
arrest fugitive slaves upon the application of the owner, 
who then proceeded homeward with his property without 
molestation. To the majority of law-abidingcitizens their 
duty of non-resistance in such cases seemed very clear; 
especially in view of the desperate and treasonable meth- 
ods that were coming into vogue among the extremists of 
the Abolitionist party. 

About this time it is probably true that the number of 
calm-minded and reasonable men, capable of considering 
a fugitive slave case on its merits, was lamentably small. 
There seemed to be no average or mean opinion. In a 
given case men ranged themselves furiously for a fugitive 
or furiously against him. Public feeling w^as of this sort 
when the following illustrative incident occurred. Threene- 
gro slaves had made their way from New Orleans to Buffalo. 
The agent of their owner, finding serious difiicultv in 
making good his claim at the latter place, induced them 
to accompany him to Cleveland, whence it was thought 
they might easily be secured and transported beyond the 
state boundaries. Once in Cleveland the negroes were ar- 
rested under the law of Congress, and lodged in the county 
jail. Hon. Edward Wade and Hon. John A. Foot, two Ab- 



HrSTORY OF CLEVELAND. 49 

olitionist lawyers of Cleveland, proposed to conduct the 
defence, but were refused admittance to the prisoners. At 
this juncture Mr. Thomas Bolton, prosecuting attorney 
of the county, was asked to interfere in the interests of 
fair play. In his official capacity he gained admittance to 
the jail, learned from the prisoners the circumstances of their 
seizure, and engaged to conduct their defence. Through 
much opposition, and regardless of threats that were 
freely made of personal violence, Mr. Bolton persevered ; 
succeeding after a long delay in obtaining the discharge of 
his clients-. Henceforth for twenty years no slave was 
remanded to captivity from the courts of Cuyahoga 
county. 

In 184-5 the literary spirit of the place found for itself a 
substantial expression. The Young Men's Literary asso- 
ciation was formed, and at once began the work of collect- 
ing a library. Former efforts in this line, of v.diich there 
had been a considerable number, had proved unsuccessful ; 
and even at this time fears were expressed that the asso- 
ciation would prove unequal to the task proposed. Hap- 
pily, however, the enterprise throve, and the collection 
of books rapidly increased. In 1848 the society was in- 
corporated under the name of the Cleveland Library asso- 
ciation. The stock consisted of two hundred shares often 
dollars each. The subsequent history of this association 
will appear in our account of the Case Library. 

Up to 1846 there was no free high school in the State of 
Ohio. The movement which was in that year successfully 
inaugurated at Cleveland for the establishment of a high 
school system is, therefore, an event of more than local 



50 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

interest. The first official mention of the plan occurs in 
the inaugural address of Mayor George Hoadly, in the 
spring of 1 846. He said : 

1 earnestly recommend to your favorable consideration the propriety 
of establishing a school of a higher grade — an academic department — the 
scholars to be taken from our common schools according to merit. This 
would present a powerful stimulus to study and good conduct. The 
poorest child, if possessed of talents and application, might aspire to the 
highest stations in the Republic. From .such schools we might hope to 
issue the future Franklins of our land. 

On April 22, J. A. Harris, chairman of the committee on 
schools, reported the following resolutions : That a high 
school for boys be established ; that the committee on 
schools be authorized to hire suitable rooms and fit them 
up for the accommodation of the school. These resolu- 
tions being adopted, a basement room was secured in the 
old Prospect Street church, where the first high school be- 
gan its work on the thirteenth of July, ^vith Mr. Andrew 
Freese as principal. The first year eighty-three scholars 
were admitted ; a class which has numbered, in its later 
history, senators, governors of states, judges of the 
supreme court, distinguished scientists, and men eminent 
in ever\^ walk of life. Never has the event shown a more 
brilliant justification of the forecast than in the instance 
'of our first high school. 





a 



A^ 



Tj>yj^^x_Aj 



^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 51 



CHAPTER VII. 

Revival of Railroad Enterprise — T>ie Various Lines — Incidents of 
Early Railroad History— The Grand Results— The Ohio State 
Bank and its Cleveland Branches— First Move For Annexation 
—Purchase of Woodland Cemetery— Various Lmprovements— 
Inception and Building of the City Water-Works— Organiza- 
tion OF the Board of Trade. 

IT remains to trace the further development of the rail- 
road interests which suffered so severely in the finan- 
cial panic of 1837. In March, 1845, exactly nine years 
from the day of its legal inception, the general assemblv 
of Ohio renewed the charter of the old Cleveland, Colum- 
bus & Cincinnati Railroad company. The new charter 
permitted the company to build a road from Lake Erie to 
Columbus, where it might unite with any other road that 
should afterwards be constructed leading from that point 
to the southern boundary of the State. The board of di- 
rectors included the following gentlemen of Cleveland : 
John W. Allen, Richard Hilliard, John AI. Woolsey, Henrv 
B Pavne. Mr. Allen was chosen president of the new 
road. So far all was well. A liberal charter had been 
secured and efficient officers appointed. The real difficult}'^ 
now appeared, the difficulty of raising funds for actual 
construction. After the severe schooling of the last few 



52 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND 

years, there was little clanger that the old mistakes of 
financial mismanagement would be repeated. It was for- 
tunate tor the road that the city of Cleveland was at this 
time induced to subscribe for stock to the amount of two 
hundred thousand dollars. Much difficulty, however, was 
experienced in negotiating the cit^^'s bonds ; and it was 
not until late in 184-7, after prolonged personal effort on 
the part of the directors, that the amount of subscription 
was brought to about seventy thousand dollars. The 
work of railway construction was at once begun, under 
the presidency of Mr. Alfred Kelly, of Columbus. Early in 
1851 the first train, bearing the Legislature of the State 
and executive officials, and decked with gaudy flags and 
streamers, passed from Columbus to Cleveland. "And 
the people did laugh to see their rulers riding on a rail," 
as an old song humorously puts it ; but there were many 
among them who regarded this tremendous innovation as 
something far too serious for witticism. But the legisla- 
tors met with a very pleasant reception at Cleveland. 
Here is the Herald^s gratulator^' offering : 

On Satvirdfiy, as we Siiw Buckeyes from the 1)anks of the Ohio and the 
rich valle3's of the Miami and Scioto minghng their congratulations with 
those of the Yankee Reserve, upon the completion of an improvement 
which served to bring them into business and social connection and to 
break down the barriers w^hich distance, prejudice and ignorance of each 
other had built up, we felt that the completion of the Cleveland, Colum- 
bus & Cincinnati railroad would be instrumental in accomplishing a good 
work for Ohio, the value of which no figures could compute. . . On 
the morning of the twenty-first the members of the Legislature, the State 
oflicers, the councils of Cincinnati and Columbus, and citizens of Columbus 
and Cincinnati, in all foiir hundred and twenty-eight persons, left the 
■capital on the C. C. & C. railroad cars, on a visit to Cleveland as guests. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 5cJ 

On their arrival they were greeted by discharges of artillery and the wel- 
come of thousands of our citizens. 

The welpome was sufficient!}' demonstrative, and the or- 
atory of the occasion all that could be desired, if we may 
judge from the list of speakers, among whom appear the 
names of Alfred Kelly, H. B. Payne, Governor Wood, and 
Cyrus Prentiss. 

On Alarch 11, 1845, the Legislature passed an act reviv- 
ing the charter of the Cleveland, Warren & Pittsburgh rail- 
road, which had come into being during that prolific spring 
session of 1836. The revised charter authorized construc- 
tion from Cleveland to the Ohio river, along that route 
which should prove "the most direct, practicable and least 
expensive." James Stewart, of Wellsville, was elected pres- 
ident of the new road, A. G. Cottell, secretary, and Cyrus 
Prentiss, treasurer. By the first of November the Hue had 
been completed to Hanover, a distance of seventy-five 
miles from Cleveland. The need for this road appears in 
the fact that the gross earnings for 1851 — rather for a 
part of that j-ear — were ninety thousand dollars. In 
1849 the city of Cleveland became a subscriber to the 
stock of this road in the amount of one hundred thousand 
dollars. 

Two other lines (afterwards consoHdated) must be men- 
tioned, which, under various names, have figured largely 
in the industrial development of Northern Ohio. The Junc- 
tion railroad was incorporated in March, 1846. This act, 
together with amendments subsequently passed, provided 
for railway construction from Cleveland to the west line 
of the State, the choice of routes and other details, accord- 



54 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

ing to the liberal fashion of that time, being left to the dis- 
cretion of the directors. Another charter was issued creat- 
ing the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland road. In 1853 these 
companies v^,'ere consolidated under the name of the Cleve- 
land & Toledo railroad, with a capital stock of five mil- 
lions of dollars. 

The first rail way connection between Cleveland and Erie, 
Pennsylvania, was secured b}^ the opening of the Cleveland 
and Erie road in the fall of 1852. The unusually large outlay 
required for construction taxed the company's means to the 
very uttermost, and for sometime hope of a successful out- 
come was abandoned. In this emergenc}^ recourse was had 
to Mr. Alfred Kelly, who was accorded unlimited author- 
ity as general agent for the company. It isneedlessto add 
that Mr. Kelly's marvelous executive ability, with the 
tradition of success which had come to be associated with 
his name, secured for the enterprise a new prosperity. 

Our enumeration will close with a brief mention of the 
Cleveland and Mahoning railroad. This enterprise was 
chartered in 1851. Unexpected difficulties arose, and it 
was not until 1857 that the line was finally completed 
between Cleveland and Youngstown. This railway, trav- 
ersing the Mahoning valley, did much for the coal and 
iron interests of Cleveland.* Dating from this period rail- 

* In 1828 the first coal was brought to Cleveland and hawked about the 
streets. A few bushels were purchased for experiment, but the house- 
wives objected to it on account of its blackness, preferring wood, a much 
cleaner and at that time more abundant article of fuel. 

An event of interest in connection with the coal industrj' of Ohio was 
the opening of the old Brier Hill coal mine, near Youngstown, in 1845, 
by D. P. Rhodes and David Tod. The first iron ore that landed in 
Cleveland was shipped by the Cleveland and Marquette Iron company 
in half a dozen barrels in the vear 1853. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 55 

road enterprise in Northern Ohio has progressed slowlv 
and surely under the lead of enterprising men. Men — 
and men of enterprise — were not wanting in the earlier 
days; but experience and means, two factors not less 
essential, were frequently almost entirely wanting. The 
fact that when the latter of these factors had been par- 
tially supplied the absence of the former did not prove 
fatal to success, is sufficient testimony to the abound- 
ing energy of the time. In illustration of the difficulties 
that presented themselves, and the spirit in which they 
were met, we quote the following interesting descrip- 
tion, from a paper by Mr. George F. Marshall, of the 
opening labor on the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati 
road: 

111 order to save the charter, which had lain dormant for a time, it was 
thought best to make a show of work on the line alread\' surveyed. 
One bright autumn forenoon about a dozen men got themselves together 
near the ground now occupied bj' the Atlantic & Great Western railwa\- 
depot with the noble purpose of inaugurating the work of building the 
Cleveland Columbus & Cincinnati road. Among the number were Alfred 
Kelly, the president; T. P. Handy, the treasurer; J. H. Sargent, the 
engineer; James A. Briggs, the attorney; and H. B. Payne, Oliver 
Perry, John A. Foote and others, besides your humble servant. On that 
memorable spot one could look upon those vast fields of bottom lands, 
and nothing could be seen but unbroken wide meadows. The brick resi- 
dence of Joel Scranton, on the north and the mill in the ravine .in Wal- 
worth Run on the south were the only show of buildings in all that 
region round about. These gentlemen had met to inaugurate the work 
on the railway, yet there was a sadness about them that could be felt. 
There was something that told them it would be difficult to make much 
of a railroad without money and labor. Yet they came on purpose to 
make a show of a beginning. Alfred took a shovel and with his foot 
pressed it well into the soft and willing earth, placing a good chunk in 
the tranquil wheelbarrow close at hand, repeating the operation until 



56 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

a load was attained, and dumping it a rod or so to the south. We all 
shouted a good sized shout that the road was really inaugurated. Then 
Mr. Handy did a little of the same work, as well as Sargent and Briggs, 
while I sat on the nearest log, rejoicing to see the work going on so lively 
and in such able hands. . . All that fall and winter one man was kept 
at work on the great enterprise, simplj' to hold the charter. . . There 
w^as a serious hindrance in the progress of the work, which came in ihis 
wise: The laborer who had so great a job on his hands t©ok a look and 
thought of what he had to do. It was one hundred and forty miies to 
Columbus, and it was best to hurry up or the road would not be ready 
for use for quite a spell to come. He set to w^ork with renewed energy for 
a while, then threw himself quite out of breath on the ground for a brief 
rest, when the rheumatism took hold of him and sciatica troubled his 
limbs so much that the great work was brought to a standstill. He struck 
for his altars and his fires at home, while the next fall of snow obliterated 
theline of his progress toward the south, and the directors got together to 
devise ways and means to keep the work moving onward. 

These various lines, w^hen finally in operation, made pos- 
sible a rapidity of development which otherv^ise could 
never have been attained. Cleveland no longer depended 
solely for her importance upon her advantageous situation 
as a lake port. All the advantages of such a situation 
still remained, but the point of view was shifted and the 
range enlarged. She was now a center not merely for the 
western trade or for the eastern trade, but also for the 
teeming industrial life of the vast interior. Her develop- 
ment as a cit}^ from this time forward is not matter of 
simply local interest. It is a phenomenon in the economic 
history of the country. 

In 1844-45 the Legislature passed the celebrated act es- 
tablishing the State Bank of Ohio. This measure, so ben- 
eficent both in its immediate and more remote results, 
was due to the energy and statesmanship of Mr. Alfred 




— I'io vr ii>eSW''Ji^ - 



\\<^X 



y M >A^^vh.^'vhaJla{^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 57 

Kelly, who at that time represented the Columbus district 
m the State Senate. The act provided for a bank capital 
of six million one hundred and fifty thousand- dollars, to 
be distributed among the twelve branch-districts provided 
for in the act of incorporation. Boards of control and 
supervision were appointed, whose functions were to ex- 
amine at stated intervals the status of the several banks, 
and regulate the issue of their currency — which was in 
every case redeemable ir gold or silver coin. On the firm 
basis of this system three banks were incorporated at 
Cleveland during 1845, the Commercial bank, William A. 
Otis, president, with an original capital stock of one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars; Merchants' bank, P. M. 
Weddell, president, capital stock of one hundred thousand 
dollars; and the City Bank of Cleveland, Reuben Sheldon, 
president, with one hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
capital. The last named was not a branch bank, but re- 
ceived its charter under a provision of the general act. 

The local legislation of the decade preceding the union 
of the cities, aside from the matter relating to topics 
already discussed, presents few points of interest. In Jan- 
uary, 1843, a very curious incident occurred in council. 
A petition was circulated praying for the repeal of the 
city charter. Among others the following reasons were 
assigned : 

(1.) It (the charter) is very expensive, thereby increasing taxes. (2.) 
The city can be governed as well by town officers. (3.) Those who gov- 
ern by making city officers pay little or no taxes, and have nothing to 
lose . . . would retain the present organization. 

We call this petition a mere incident, as it did not, ap- 



58 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

parently, express any definite sentiment or policy on the 
part of the citizens of Cleveland. January 19, 1846, "Mr. 
Hughes introduced a preamble and resolution on the sub- 
ject of annexing Cleveland and Ohio City, appointing the 
maj^or and Messrs. Bingham, Heard, Williams and Hughes 
a committee to meet one from Ohio City . . . and re- 
port at the next meeting of the council." This was the first 
official utterance of a desire which had long been cherished 
by discerning business men in both communities. During 
the years following, until the consummation of the union, 
the matter was frequently discussed, and always with the 
result of bringing nearer the inevitable conclusion. A few 
steps in this progress are shown in the folio wing measures: 
In March, 1851, Mr. Mcintosh prepared a resolution de- 
claring that "an effort being made by several individuals 
to obtain ... a law annexing Ohio City to the city 
of Cleveland, the city council declares that such action at 
this time is not desirable, and is not believed to meet the 
views of our citizens at so short notice.'" This resolution 
was adopted. Others followed, until finally, October 14, 
1851, the question was submitted to the people and de- 
feated at the polls. Eight hundred and fifty votes were 
cast for annexation, and one thousand ninety-eight against 
it. But even this result showed progress. 

During the summer of 1848 the first steps were taken 
towards securing a new cemetery, resulting, August 19, 
1851, in the passage of a resolution for the purchase of 
land, which was afterwards laid out as Woodland ceme- 
tery.* 

* " This resolution, introduced by Mr. Bliss, directed the mayor to pur- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 59 

In the summer of 1848 the Cleveland Gas Light and 
Coke company presented a petition asking for the exclu- 
sive use of the streets for a term of years for the laying 
of gas pipes. This company had been chartered February 
6, 1846. Late in 1849 gas was first used for illuminating 
the streets of Cleveland. 

In the summer of 1847Mr.H. B. Ely moved in council that 
the Lake Erie Telegraph company be permitted to erect a 
line through the city. Permission was granted . This was 
the first step toward the introduction of communication 
by wire. A few months later the first telegraph message 
was received in the city. 

At this time the board of health was ordered to purchase 
land for a city poor-house. The attention given during 
the earlier part of this year to sanitary matters is of inter- 
est, in view of the fact that during the July and August 
ensuing one hundred persons died of cholera within the citv 
limits. 

The popular question of whether the city should or should 
not be supplied with pure water took practical form when, 
on March 22, 1853, the plans and specifications of thecom- 
mittee, appointed in 1849,* to investigate and report upon 

chase sixty and sixty-two one hundredths acres of land . . . ; and that 
the mayor be authorized to issue in payment for said land bonds of the 
city of Cleveland in sums of one thousand dollars .... for the 
aggregate sum of thirteen thousand six hundred and thirty-nine dollars." 
On May 18, 1853, Mr. George F. Mar.shall moved in council that the 
cemeterj' be called " Woodland." 

* Following is the resolution of Mr. Hughes, passed jn council in 1849, 
on the above subject : 
Resolved, That the committee on fire and water be and are hereby 



60 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the subject were vsubmitted to the council and accepted. 
This report recommended an outlay of four hundred thou- 
sand dollars. Although determined to have water, the 
council did not feel justified in voting so great an outlay 
without special instruction from the public. At the spring 
election of 1858 the question was accordingly put to the 
people and carried, the votein favor of the expenditure being 
one thousand two hundred and thirty, and that against it 
five hundred ninety-nine. At the same time H. B. Payne, 
B. L. Spangler and Richard Hilliard were chosen water- 
works commissioners. Subsequently the city issued and 
delivered to the commissioners bonds to the amount of 
four hundred thousand dollars. On October 12, 1853, the 
council adopted a resolution declaring that the water- 
works should be located on the West Side, and measures 
were at once taken to appropriate the necessary land. 
Recognition is due to the first trustees of the water-works 
for their wise, careful and judicious management of the first 
great public improvement of thecit^^ They accomplished 
the designated results with the funds appropriated there- 
for — a precedent frequently not followed b\^ the commis- 
sioners of public works. 

In closing our account of this period mention must be 
made of the inception of an honored and useful organiza- 

directed to ascertain the cost of bringing the water from the opposite 
side of the river, or from any other point, to some convenient place upon 
the summit in this city, where a general reservoir may be located ; the 
cost of said reservoir, and the expense per rod for feeding it. Further, 
that the chief engineer of the fire department be associated with said 
committee, and that they may call to their assistance a competent per- 
son to assist them, and report tothecouncil as soon as possible. Adopted. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 61 

tion which has been an important stimulus to the commer- 
cial development of Cleveland, but whose achievements and 
history belong to a later time. The Cleveland Herald of 
July 8, 1848, contained the following: 

At a large meeting of the merchants of this city, held pursuant to notice, 
at the Weddell House, on Friday evening, the 7th inst., Wm. Mil- 
ford, Esq., was called to the chair, and S. S. Coe appointed secretary. 
After a statement from the chair of the object of the meeting, it was re- 
solved: That the merchants of this city now organize themselves into an 
association to be called the Board of Trade of the City of Cleveland. 

The list of original members was as follows: Joseph 
Weatherly, W. F. Allen, Jr., Charles W. Coe, R. T. Lyon, 
John B. Warring, Richard Hilliard, E. M. Fitch, L. M. 
Hubby, J. Gillette, William Milford, Philo Chamberlain, 
Stephen Clary, Augustus Handy, S. S. Coe, Charles Hickox, 
Thomas Walton, Sheldon Pease, S. S. Stone, James Ran- 
som, John E. Lyon, William Mittleberger, R. K. Winslow, 
N. C. Winslow, Arthur Hughes, Eli Morgan, Samuel A. 
Foote, M. B. Guyles, M. B. Scott, George Woodward, W. 
F. Otis, B. F. Smith, Eli Parks. J. G. Ransom, George 
Bradburn, O. M. Oviatt, John F. Warner. Joseph L. 
Weatherly was the first president, Charles W. Coe, secre- 
tary, R. T. Lyon, treasurer. 



62 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The United Cities— Comparison of Population— Sanitary Measures 
TO Prevent Cholera— Improvement of the "Old River Bed"— 
Opening of trade with Lake Superior— First Meeting of the 
. Joint Council— Serious Conflagration— Failure of the Canal 
Bank— Dedication of the New Council Hall— The Grays' New 
Armory— Rivalry in National Politics— The Public Square Con- 
troversy. 

IN November, 1853, the long debated question of annex- 
ation was again revived, in a resolution providing for 
the appointment of a committee to consult with another 
from the Ohio City council, with a view to "taking initia- 
tory steps towards the annexation of said city to the city 
of Cleveland." This resolution was adopted. On the first 
day of February of the following year, the report was pre- 
sented, as follows : 

" i?eso7Fec/— That we recommend to the councils of the 
two cities ... to pass an ordinance submitting to the 
voters thereof the question of annexing their municipal 
corporations." 

On the third day of April the election occurred, with the 
following result : In Cleveland the vote for annexation 
was one thousand eight hundred and ninety -two ; against, 
four hundred. In Ohio City the vote was six hundred and 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 63 

eighteen for annexation and two hundred and fifty-eight 
against.* 

The commissioners on the part of Cleveland were W. A. 
Otis, H. V. Willson and F. T. Backus; those for Ohio City, 
W. B. Castle. N. M. Standart and C. S. Rhodes. 

The union of Ohio City and the city of Cleveland was 
the result of great wisdom and foresight of both commu- 
nities, and ma}'^ be regarded as the prime initiatory act of 
consolidation of diverse and rival interests — an example 
which has since been adopted and followed by railroad, 
telegraph and other corporations, and in private business 
enterprises, both west and east — on the principle that in 
union there is strength. 

The census of 1850 credited Cleveland with a population 
of 17,034, and the sister city with 8,950. The census the 
year following the annexation was estimated at 33,885, 
an increase of 21,850 over the last decennial period. Much 
pride was taken in what was termed the extraordinary 
growth of the city in five years. While such an abnormal 
increase of population was not literally true but only con- 

* At this election there was no canvass for mayor, the term having been 
extended to two years. Following is an extract from report of the com- 
missioners appointed to draft terms of Union, adopted June 5, 1854: 
" That the territory now constituted the City of Ohio shall be annexed 
to, and constitute a part of, the city of Cleveland, and the First, Second, 
Third and Fourth wards of the former city as now established shall con- 
stitute the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh wards respectively of the 
last named city ; and the present trustees of said wards . . shall hold 
their offices . . . for the terms for which they have been severalh? 
elected." 



64 HISTORY OF CI.EVELAND. 

strtictively so by reason ol nearly doubling the population 
by annexation, yet the figures were rather inspiring to the 
whole community and gave fame to the city as surpassing 
all others in rapidity ol growth. 

There was then not a square yard of stone paving on 
either side of the river, except on Superior street hill from 
Water street to the public landing on the river. Soon fol- 
lowed, however, the paving of Union street, from River 
street, to its intersection with Superior street hill, while 
Superior street from the public square to Water street was 
a slushing, twisted and rotten plank road, and every other 
street in the cit\^ was a mud road of almost unfathomable 
depth in the rainy 'season. 

The present extensive and admirable system of sewerage 
traversing miles of streets and costing millions of dollars 
was then unknown and hardly contemplated, except 
dimly as a possible future necessity when the water- works 
should be completed, which great work was then in pro- 
cess of construction under a wise and judicious board of 
trustees. 

As an illustration of the deficiency of sewerage, the rec- 
ords of the council show that as a sanitary measure to 
prevent the ravages of cholera, an ordinance was passed 
prohibiting persons from throwing dirty water into the 
streets and alleys of the city. Against this the citizens 
protested for the reason that there were no sewers ade- 
quate to receive it and recommended that temporary 
drains be cut to answer as sewers. 

In pursuance of the agreement of annexation, the city 
very soon thereafter built the Main Street bridge, re-buiit 




^A/^-^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND 65 

Center Street bridge, and constructed a new bridge at the 
foot of Seneca street hill — all of which greatly facilitated 
intercourse between the respective sides of the river, and 
for that early time were deemed adequate to the public 
necessity. 

Cotemporaneously with the period of bridge building, 
the city council looking ahead to the possible, and as they 
believed probable commercial necessities of Cleveland in 
the then near future, undertook the important work of 
w^idening and deepening the "Old River Bed " Those who 
to-day look along that ancient channel and see the slips 
and docks that border it — the mountains of coal and iron 
— the fleets of ships and lines of steam craft, loading and 
unloading, the ship-yards, and lumber-yards, and the fur- 
naces and manufacturing establishments that line its 
shores, cannot but be astonished at the fulfillment of the 
prophetic visions which possessed the minds of the city 
fathers immediately succeeding the period of annexation. 
Whiskey Island was then a vast sand dune. The great 
tract on the south of the old bed, called the "Buffalo 
tract,'' was still a swamp, unimproved and unadorned 
except by a few dilapidated shanties, a sad reminder of 
land speculation fifty years ago. The_greatOx Bow tract, 
the joint property of Richard Hilliard, Edmund Clark, 
and Courtlandt Palmer, had long been platted, but was 
still substantially vacant territory. Joel Scranton's large 
farm of meadow, bluff and ravine had but the homestead 
thereon, while Silas S. Stone's meadow of hundreds of 
acres up the river was but a pasture for flocks and herds. 
Even the beautiful terraced plateau called the Heights had 



66 HISTORY OF cle:yeland. 

scarcely more than two or three buildings thereon till long 
after it had been utilized as a military camp in the early 
days of the civil war. 

The city had been, and was substantially, mercantile 
until the completion of the Sault Ste. Marie canal in 1855, 
which opened up the waters of Lake Superior for a thou- 
sand miles to the northwest. Ship-building for the lower 
lakes had been the principal industry. Of manufacturing 
industries there were but few and small, and there was 
but a single iron mill, Renton's small establishment east- 
ward on the lake shore.* The copper mines of Lake Supe- 
rior had long been known, and for several years had been the 
principal subject of speculative excitement. A littlecopper 
had been mined and brought to the city, where Hussey and 
Mc Bride had a smelting works south on the line of the 
Ohio canal, but that industrj- eventually passed into the 
control of eastern companies, and the great masses of 
almost pure copper, once the delight of the curious, were 
no longer seen upon our docks. 

At the first meeting of the city council after annexation, 
June 10, 1854, Abner Brownell being mayor, R. C. Par- 
sons became president, and the venerable J. B. Bartlett 
was elected clerk and auditor for something more than his 

* The author probabb' refers to the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Com- 
pany, of which Elisha SterUng was the head at this time. It was built 
in 1835, and subsequently operated by W. B. Castle and J. F. Holloway. 
Its entire works were sold to the Cleveland Ship-building Company in the 
spring of 1887. The present Lake Erie Iron Company was started by J. 
N. Ford and W. A. Otis in 1852. Another manufactory, aftei-wards 
merged into the Cleveland Paper Company, was established by Young- 
love and Massey in 1848.— [Editor.] 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. , 67 

third term — and continued to perform that service for 
many years thereafter, at a salary for the two responsibil- 
ities which an ordinary clerk wotdd spurn in these later 
days. The Cleveland Daily Express and the W aechter am 
Erie became the official papers. Proceedings were insti- 
tuted to appropriate land for the West Side reservoir, Au- 
gust 16. 

On the seventh of October nearly the whole of the 
south side of the public square, some twenty or more 
buildings, were consumed by flames. The old court- 
house caught fire, but it was extinguished. It communi- 
cated with the buildings in the rear of Northrup and 
Spangler's block and extended to near the old Baptist 
church. Every building but four was destroyed. This 
was followed on the twenty-seventh by the burning of the 
New England hotel and stables, and spreading to the 
northwest side of Merwin street and destroying man}' 
large business places. It was the most extensive and dis- 
astrous fire the city had ever experienced. Among the suf- 
ferers we note the names of many who, after the lapse of 
a third of a century, are still familiar to us, and some of 
whom are yet in business — L. F. Burgess, Cook & Althen, 
A. J. Wenham, William Edwards, Bishop & Remington, 
Melhinch & Stillman, Ci. H. Orange, A. W. Sprague, 
Crawford & Chamberlin, Wilber & McDowell, J. Banquert, 
A. N. Gray, WilHam Bingham, the board of trade, and the 
custom-house. The estimated loss was upwards of two 
hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, which was deemed 
a very large sum for the then infant citj% and a very de- 
structive conflagration. 



68 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Immediately following the great tire was the failure of 
the Canal Bank. The bank was besieged by a mob led by 
a citizen of verv determined character, who sought to 
forcibly recover some trust funds specially deposited, belong- 
ing to some heirs of which he was guardian and which the 
bank refused to surrender, but sought to retain as assets. 
The door was stove in and crowbars were about to be 
used upon the door of the vault w^hen some comj^romise 
was effected and the first financial mob of the city dis])ersed. 
The liabilities of the bank w-ere $308,000, and its assets 
$282,000. This looks quite unimportant when compared 
with our dozen or more banks of to-day, each with its 
millions of capital ; but it was an important institution in 
that day, and its failure was a momentous financial 
event. 

The municipal events of 1855 were few and unimportant. 
On the fourteenth of November the new Council hall, built 
by Mr. John Jones on his lot on the southwest corner of 
the public square, was dedicated. Alany citizens were pres- 
ent and refreshments, including wane, were served. At that 
time there w^ere only eleven wards and tw^enty-tw^o council- 
men. Twenty-four seats only were embraced in the circle. 
The two extra seats were thought to be evidence of the 
wisdom and foresight of the city fathers, looking ahead 
to the possible time when another ward from beyond the 
then city limits might be admitted w^ith its dual represen- 
tation. On the twenty-fifth of November Seneca Street 
bridge was completed, and the ground was being prepared 
for the erection of the Atlantic & Great Western railroad 
station on Scranton's flats. Smith & Co's new rolling 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 69 

mill for the manufacture of railroad rails, near the Forest 
City Iron Works, was completed, and on December 4, the 
city granted an ordinance to the Cleveland & Toledo 
railroad authorizing the construction of a railroad ferry 
across the Cuyahoga river. 

In December the Cleveland Grays fitted up the old Center 
Street theater for an armory, and here for a long time 
that matchless historical military company had its head- 
quarters and went through its intricate and graceful evo- 
lutions to the delight of visitors and the pride of the 
municipality. Subsequent years attested its value as a 
military arm both at home and aboard. It served with 
honor and distinction in the early days of the civil war. 
Its name has never been tarnished. Its rank and file have 
ever embraced the honored and beloved of our citizens, 
and its fame is still bright and enduring. 

The public events of 1855 were mainly such as were 
incident to the commencement of the settlement of Kansas. 
It w^as approaching the end of President Pierce's admin- 
istration, and the rivalry between north and south for 
precedence and political power in the elections, and in the 
organization of the territory and future State, surpassed 
all former experience in the history of our government. 
It was the first year of large emigration, especially from 
the northern States. The height of the local excitement 
in the territory was later, but its final culmination was 
in the terrible civil war — and emancipation. 

The events of 1856 opened to our local satisfaction by 
the United States government purchasing of Leonard 
Case his homestead grounds for a site for the then contem- 



70 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

plated new post-office, at a cost of $30,000. The high 
school building on Euclid avenue was dedicated in April, 
the Rev. S. W. Adams, D. D., presiding and making an 
address. April 23, the new cit}^ infirmary was completed. 
Over one hundred lodgers there found rest and food — such as 
infirmaries are wont to provide — under the superintendence 
of Madison Miller. 

On the twenty-second of July, F. T. Wallace, councilman 
for the Fifth ward, introduced a resolution directing an 
inquiry into the power and expediency of inclosing the 
four parcels of separately fenced land known as the public 
square, and making one central park. This, together 
with the petition of James F. Clark and fifteen hundred 
others praying for the inclosure, was referred to the judici- 
ary committee, of which Hon. Harvey Rice was chairman. 
A thorough examination of the original survey, field notes, 
plat, records, maps, actions of the Connecticut Land Com- 
pan}^ and its trustees, the deeds and acts of the original 
proprietors of the city lots ; and the committee subse- 
quently submitted through its chairman an elaborate 
written report, to the effect that such act would be legal 
and beneficial and recommend the proceeding. The subject 
was, however, delayed until March 24, 1857, w^hen the 
four street entrances were closed by a fence, very early in 
the morning before an}^ teams were on the streets . This pre- 
caution had been taken, as some persons, and those the least 
interested, had threatened to enjoin the proceeding. When 
the post-office and custom-house had been finished, popula- 
tion largely increased and street railroads pressed for facil- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 71 

ities through the enclosed streets, and when property 
owners on Superior street, east of the park, felt that the 
enclosure of Superior street worked a detriment to 
values, by retarding of business and improvement of prop- 
erty in that direction, and especially as Case Hall and the 
City Hall buildings were in contemplation, the streets 
through the square were, on petition to the court of com- 
mon pleas by such property owners, and with but little or 
no opposition, decreed to be again opened. The old fence 
surrounding the square being rotten and unattractive, 
and as no suitable walks had been constructed, nor any 
other embellishments adorning the same, save possibly the 
fountain in the northwest corner, so no one lamented the 
reversal of the order in council. The present neat and 
pleasant embellishments of this central park, pretentiously 
styled by some one "Monumental, "is the work of modem 
days, and especially since the care of this and other parks 
have been under the control of an intelligent and tasteful 
board of park commissioners. 

In connection with the subject of thus enclosing the four 
squares, the council about the same time instructed the 
city clerk to notify the county commissioners to remove 
the old court-house from the public square as soon as pos- 
sible. It had been abandoned as a place for holding courts, 
and none of its former official tenants remained within its 
walls but the county recorder. The new court-house on the 
north side of the square was not j^et constructed, and the 
ancient Baptist Church on the corner of Seneca and Cham- 
plain streets had been fitted up and was used for court 
purposes. The commissioners took umbrage at the civil 



72 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

and courteous notification, and were not very diplomatic 
in their answer when they reminded the council that 
they had better confine their labors to their own legiti- 
mate business. 





^^H^^^/^^^^X^ 



^^-y^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 73 



CHAPTER IX. 

Completion of the West Side Reservoir— A New Market House 
Built— Measures to Establish an Industrial School — Home 
Politics— The Hard Times of 1857 — The Gubernatorial Con- 
test Between Chase and Payne — Statement of Municipal 
Finances — The Anti-Lecompton Demonstration — The First 
Trans- Atlantic Telegram — Unveiling of Perry's Monument- 
Construction OF the First Street Railroad. 

THE twenty-fourth day of September, '56, was a happy 
day within the walls of the city, both to officials 
and people, for the great reservoir on the West Side 
having been completed, the mighty Cornish engines down 
by the old river bed sent the welcome waters of the lake 
dancing more than a hmidred feet into the air and filled the 
little lake on the Kentucky street mound, and from thence 
sent on its mission of joy, health, comfort and luxury to 
the homes of the people. From henceforth, the w^ells of 
hard and milky mineral waters were abandoned, pumps 
were no longer jerked, cisterns of black and stagnant 
rain water were closed, and even the pure little spring 
down in the bottom of some far off deep ravine soon 
became forgotten even b}^ children. The hose and the 
sprinkler became familiar objects upon lawns and in door- 
yards. Some are living who will remember to have wit- 



74 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

nessed, one hot day, Girty, the first secretary, Singer the 
engineer, with John the faithful guardian of the "turnkey" 
— still to be met daily with the iron instrument on his 
shoulder, with coats off and sleeves rolled up, each with 
a great black hose attached to the hydrants trying the 
experiment of washing the dry and warped planks on 
•Superior street, from the Weddell House to Superior Street 
hill — and thev made no failure of it. Dock owners, it is 
believed, protested against a repetition of the test, as it 
would involve dredging the river. 

For mahv years the city had no market house. All mar- 
keting was done on the streets, principal!}' on Ontario 
street, including Michigan and Prospect intersections, and 
along the south side of the square. There was, however, 
a small wooden building in the middle of Michigan street 
called the hay market, around which congregated farmers 
with small jags of hay, the aroma of which is still a mem- 
ory. The council had resolved to take a new departure, 
purchase market grounds and build a suitable market 
house. Commissioners were appointed to select the 
ground for a central market, and on the seventh of Decem- 
ber, 1856, they reported in favor of the present market 
grounds at the junction of Pittsburgh (now Broadway), 
and Bolivar streets. The ground was immediately cleared, 
but the building of the market house was postponed till 
the following spring. 

December 16 the council took measures for the establish- 
ment of an Industrial School, and Messrs. Paddock, Rice 
and Rogers were appointed a committee who promptly 
reported in favor of putting one in immediate opera- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 75 

tion. Mr. Richard Hilliard having died, the council took 
suitable measures for the expression of the public sorrow. 
He had long been the leading merchant of the city, a dig- 
nified, courteous and honored citizen, and his loss was 
deeply lamented by all. 

The year 1856 had been one of unusual excitement. It 
was the famous campaign of Buchanan and Fremont — the 
first year of the consolidated elements of the Whig, Free-soil 
and Abolition parties into the ultimateh' brilliant and 
powerful Republican part} . The Cleveland journals of 
that day, the Herald, Plain Dealer and Leader spread the 
intellectual feast as usual for the public enlightenment, and 
instructed the people upon their political duties, and espe- 
cially how to vote. The editorial gladiators all wore mail- 
clad undershirts, but the figurative crimson generally flowed 
at every thrust of the editorial lance. It was, however, an 
unequal match — two against one — the Herald and Leader 
against the Plain Dealer. When the short sword of the 
Herald would be knocked into the air by the scimeter of 
the Saladin of the Plain Dealer, the Herald would editori- 
ally clinch its antagonist and both would fall on the polit- 
ical field, the Herald possibly uppermost ; but now in the 
moment of its exultation the Plain Dealer, following the 
tactics of "Artemus Ward " under like circumstances, 
would dexterously insert its nose between the Herald s 
teeth and thus hold the latter down. Then the Plain 
Dealer would, perhaps, floor the Leader, w^hen the latter, 
sometimes in a generous and forgiving spirit, but generally 
as a ruse or tinesse, would lie quietly and hold the Plain 
Dealer down by the same ingenious tactics. 



76 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

The year 1857 unhappih- opened by the burning of the 
Stone church, on the Public Square, March 8. On the 
fourteenth of April Mayor Castle announced the public 
debt to have been diminished in the year previous $19,- 
286.12, and taxation largely reduced, and the auditor's 
statement was: total receipts, $188,303.23, and the ex- 
penditures, $185,774.15. The funded indebtedness of the 
city, $636,800.12. Population, 60,000. The custom- 
house report for the year past indicated the total foreign 
and coastwise trade of the Cuyahoga district $81,385,910. 
The number of vessels entered and cleared, 3,745. Ton- 
nage of vessels 1,477,559. Number of men, 60,343. 

The business depression of 1857, the result of the im- 
mense quantity of poorly secured bank currency in circula- 
tion, which was inaugurated by the failure of the Ohio 
Insurance and Trust Company of Cincinnati, was severely 
felt in the Western Reserve. Although no local banking 
house was compelled to suspend, there was almost a com- 
plete cessation of investments, which caused a correspond- 
ingly stagnant state of affairs to pervade every branch of 
business. But the Vesuvius of slaver}^ which then began 
anew to send all over the countr\' its trembling moni- 
tions of what soon followed, made up, in history, to a 
large extent, for the absence of business and municipal 
activity. 

A petition, signed by twenty-five residents of the East 
End, asking that a portion of Cleveland be detached from 
the citv and incorporated into the township of East Cleve- 
land, which was sent to the Legislature in 1858, was the 
occasion of a remonstrance from the city council that went 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 77 

to Columbus on February 1 7 of the same year.* Agita- 
tion over the matter was rife for awhile, but the remon- 
strance had the desired effect, for the city remained 
intact. 

President Buchanan was inaugurated on the fourth of 
March, and in the summer following the city and state 
was enlivened and excited in the famous canvass of Salmon 
P. Chase and Henry B. Payne for the governorship of 
Ohio. 

On the twelfth of March, 1858, there was a great anti- 
Lecompton demonstration of the Democratic party at 
Melodian Hall, where now stands the Wilshire, to protest 
against the action of the President and cabinet in the mat- 
ter of the government of the territory of Kansas, and the 
formation of a state constitution . J ames M . Coffinberry pre- 
sided. Arthur Hughes, D. P. Rhodes, Charles Winslow, J. 
W. Fitch, Wm. V. Craw, Edward Hessenmueller, John B. 
Wigman, Darius Stephan and John Farley were vice-presi- 
dents. Henry G. Abbey and John W. Heisley, secretaries. 
The committee on resolutions were F. T. Wallace, A. C. 
Beardsley, L. Heckman, James D. Cleveland and Merrill 
Barlow. 

Frederick P. Stanton, late secretary and acting-governor 
of Kansas, who, like his predecessor, Robert J. Walker, 
had resigned the governorship when no longer sustained, 

* "The proposed dismemberment," the remonstrance said, "is not de- 
sired by a majority of the residents of the territory to be affected thereby. 
The names attached to the petition do indeed represent men of large 
■wealth and possessions, yet they are but a very small minority of those 
whose interests will V)e affected b^- the proposed change." 



78 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

by reason of the change of policy at Washington, addressed 
the convention in a very elaborate and minute historical 
review^ of the whole subject, including the fraud in the 
returns of the vote for the adoption of the offensive con- 
stitution, and the conduct of one John Calhoun, surveyor- 
general of Kansas, who hid the ballots in a candle-box to 
prevent a recount. The committee reported a series of 
resolutions expressive of the public sentiment, the sub- 
stance of w^hich ma}' be inferred from the final one: "" Re- 
solved, That the Lecompton constitution, in view of its 
parentage and history, is unworthy the consideration of 
the President and Congress, and it should be sent away 
to the bosom and embrace of its dishonest and tricky 
father, John 'Candlebox' Calhoun." 

From henceforth and until his death the public journals 
thus distinguished him from all other Calhouns. The 
name stuck to him like the shirt of Nessus. The odor of 
the candlebox was forever in his garments. Like the 
"Scarlet Letter," it grew brighter as time obliterated the 
remembrance of all other crimes perpetrated against the 
rights of the people. 

One pleasant day in 1858 the afternoon journals an- 
nounced the successful laying of the first Atlantic cable, 
and the transmission of congratulatory despatches be- 
tv^een the President of the United States and the Queen 
of England. It was the climax of electric telegraphy, and, 
although the progress of the enterprise had been watched 
from the manufacture of the compound insulated wire to 
the commencement of " paying it out " to Neptune, yet the 
new^s of the triumph came upon the public mind like a 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 79 

sudden light and inspiration from heaven. The whole cit}- 
in an instant was wild with excitement, and no sooner 
had the shades of evening come than the city was illumi- 
nated. Every public building, hotel and private residence 
lit up its front, and where gas was not supplied every 
pane of glass glistened with a tallow candle. It was a 
grand illumination, voluntary, impromptu and inspired. 
The new^spapers of the following day glorified the event 
and uttered prophecies touching the future possibilities of 
the electric spark. Even " Artemus Ward " left his "Snaix 
and moral wax-works" for the da}^ and dehvered himself 
in this wise : "God, in His wisdom and beneficence, has en- 
abled man to accomplish in this 3'ear of grace the crowning 
w^ork of the six thousand years of his historical existence 
upon the earth . The physical force which elevated the Pyra- 
mids far back in the dim distance of the mythical history of 
the Pharaohs of Egvpt ; that built the mighty barriers 
that for ages served to separate the Tartar from the 
'Brother of the Sun; ' that reared the wondrous walls of 
Hadrian and Severus to protect the Roman from the bow 
and spear of the invincible Caledonian, is trivial and in- 
significant when contrasted with the splendid achieve- 
ments of science and of mind which to-day enables the 
nationsoftwo hemispheres to hold converse as inaparlor. 
Science to-day unites the nations of the world with electric 
ties as in an ancient and ruder age they were separated by 
barriers of stone. The wizard girdle now goes the circuit 
of the earth in 'forty minutes.' Man, emancipated from 
the thraldom of superstition, possessing the power which 
comes of knowledge and a high civilization, has in this cul- 



80 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

minating age demonstrated to the world the practicabilitj- 
of the inquiry 'from out the whirlwind '—that lightnings 
can be sent on messages to the people, and signify to the 
world that ' Here we are ! ' " 

The exuberance of our citizens was, however, soon dis- 
pelled, for after a few despatches had been transmitted it 
ceased to speak. The last message was from the operator 
—"All right. DeSauty." It spoke no more, to the dismaj^ 
of the projectors and the regret of the world. 

The Council in September, 1859, appointed a committee to 
procure plans for a city prison and police court rooms, to 
be erected on the city's lot between Champlain and Long 
streets. The plans of J. M. Blackburn were adopted. 
Henry Blair was the contractor and the cost was $18,000. 
On the thirteenth of October, Leonard Case dedicated by 
deed to the city the strip of land between the Post Office 
and Case Hall, from Superior to Rockwell streets, for a 
public street, which was duly accepted by the Council. 

On the tenth of September, 1860, the Perry Statue was 
inaugurated. It was the first, and we believe the only 
work of monumental art ever undertaken by the citizens 
of Cleveland. It was a success as an historical representa- 
tion of the naval hero of the war of 1812, whose name 
and deeds have been known in song to children and chil- 
dren's children for seventy years. It was a happy concep- 
tion in the originators and promoters of the enterprise 
that the statue should be erected in the city so near the scene 
of battle, where the reverberation of the hero's cannon 
was heard by our fathers and mothers, in the then little 
village, with breathless anxiety, and where the first shouts 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 81 

of triumphant relief went Up on land for " Perry's Victory. " 
It was a memorable gala day in Cleveland. The Grays 
and other military companies were out with numerous 
other military companies from home and abroad, each 
with its bands of music, with all the paraphernalia incident 
to military organizations previous to the great civil w^ar 
which soon thereafter showed its wrinkled front. General 
Jabez W. Fitch was Grand Marshal of the day. Governor 
Dennison and Staff, Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, 
and Staff, members of the Legislature of Rhode Island, and 
surviving relatives of Commodore Perr3% survivers of the 
naval victory, and soldiers of the War of 1812, were in 
the great procession. Rev. Dr. Perry, rector of Grace 
church, was chaplain. Mr. William Walcutt, the sculptor, 
unveiled the statue. Hon. George Bancroft, the American 
historian, and Dr. Usher Parsons, the surgeon in Perry's 
fleet, were the orators of the da3\ George B. Senter was 
mayor, who with the Council, the police force, the fire 
department, civic societies and citizens generally, united 
to give eclat and renown to one of the most happy and 
pleasant events in our municipal history. 

Prior to 1860 street railroads were unknown in Ohio, 
but on the sixth of October of that year, the East Cleve- 
land Street Railroad company was organized. There was 
not a word in the statute at that time authorizing City 
Councils to grant permits for the use of streets for such a 
purpose, but authority was assumed under and by virtue of 
a statute authorizing the use of streets by steam railroads, 
upon certain conditions and restrictions. This was liberally 
construed and deemed broad enough to cover the novelty 



82 HISTORY OF CLEVEI.AND. 

of a street railroad, and under this law a permit or grant 
was made to this first road in Ohio. It was looked upon 
by citizens generally as a harmless experiment, detrimental 
only to those who expended their funds in its construction, 
and as the streets were onl}' common dirt roads between 
the two termini, no harm would be done to pavements in 
removing it when the failure was demonstrated, as it 
would be verv speedily. It certainly did look gloomy for 
the flowing in of man}' nickles, as the houses were few 
and far between on Prospect street and not more than 
two or three on the east part of Euclid avenue and onh^ 
now and then a farm-house from Willson avenue to Doan's 
Corners. The eastern terminus was Willson avenue, and 
here, on the day before mentioned, the ground was broken 
in the presence of the few capitalists composing the S3mdi- 
cate. Mr. Henry S. Stevens, the leading spirit of the enter- 
prise, with due formality and without the slightest move- 
ment of a muscle of his classic face, elevated the first 
shovelful of dirt, after which he invited the stockholders 
and patrons present to meet at the other end of the route, 
near Water street, three weeks from that day, to celebrate 
the completion of the first street railroad in Cleveland and 
in the state. The gentlemen then adjourned to the residence 
of Mr. Ellery G. Williams, on Kinsman street, now Wood- 
land avenue, by invitation, and were by him hospitably 
entertained. Kinsman Street railroad soon followed, as 
also the original West Side road, an enterprise largely 
inspired by Mr. Stevens, both of which grants or permits 
were under the same statute. Later legislation and renewed 
grants of franchise for a period of twenty-five years, and 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 83 

a denser population of 250,000, has placed the seven or 
eight principal roads upon an excellent financial footing. 

Street railroads have within the last twenty-five years be- 
come the established mode of transit in all American cities, 
largely superseding hacks and omnibuses, and are now as 
indispensable in cities as are the lines of steam railways in 
the states or across the continent. 



84 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Irrepressible Conflict— Visit OF Colonel Ellsworth's Zouaves 
—Rendition of the Fugitive Slave, Lucy— Visit of President- 
elect Lincoln — Organization of Military Companies — The 
President's Call — Cleveland's Reply — Camp Taylor— North- 
ern Ohio Militia Starts for the Front — The Conference of 
Governors at Cleveland — The Home Guards— Vallandigham 
AND HIS Colleagues — Death of William Case — Creation of the 
Sinking Fund — Building of the West Side Street Railroad — 
Mass Meeting of Freemen in Cleveland — Opening of the 
A. & G. W. Railroad — Obsequies of Colonels Creighton and 
Crane and Major Thayer — Return of the Seventh Regiment 
—The Old Baptist Church — The Ladies' Aid Society and its 
Good Work — Organization of the Pay Fire Department and 
THE Introduction of the Telegraph System. 

THE year 1860, with its momentous political cam- 
paign, with the angr}^ threats of the southern slave 
State leaders and their hostile acts immediately following 
the election of the Republican candidate, with the monster 
mass meetings, occasioned a steady growth in the deter- 
mination of the people of the Western Reserve that the 
Union should be preserved at whatever cost; and in no 
place in the country was this spirit more deep seated or 
more vigorously sustained by the convictions of the people 
and the circumstances of the times, than in the city of 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 85 

Cleveland. Situated at the heart of the north, and being 
the recognized post of departure for the Underground Rail- 
road, the first mutterings of secession that came from the 
South inspired her people to begin early their preparation 
for the irrepressible conflict. 

The celebrated Ellsworth Zouaves, of Chicago, had been 
invited here by the local military organizations in the 
summer of 1860, and the brilliant evolutions and manly 
bearing of the visitors aroused the home martial spirit. 

Directly following the evacuation of Fort Moultrie by 
General Anderson and his retreat to Fort Sumter, a mass 
meeting held at the old Atheneum unanimously adopted 
resolutions calling upon the State Legislature to take 
measures for the immediate organization of the State 
militia. Without waiting, however, for State action, 
several new companies were organized and regular train- 
ing inaugurated. 

The year 1861 was a year of the most intense excite- 
ment ever, up to that time, experienced, not only in Cleve- 
land but throughout the whole country. South Carolina 
had seceded a few^ days before the New Year had dawned, 
and southern States were seething hot and were destined 
to follow fast and faster her example. War was imminent 
and inevitable. Yet, strange as it may seem at this late 
day, in less than a month from the first act of secession, 
from the city of Cleveland was returned, under the Fugi- 
tive Slave law, a fugitive slave. On the twenty-first of 
January one William S. Goshorn, of Virginia, a gray-haired 
old man, swore a warrant before the U. S. Commissioner, 
for the seizure of a young colored woman called Lucy, 



86 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

whom he claimed as his slave. The seizure was made by 
the U. S. Marshal, at the residence of Mr. L. A. Benton, on 
Prospect street, where she was employed as a domestic. 

Lucy was placed in the county jail to await a hearing 
before the commissioner, but she was soon released from 
jail by virtue of the State law prohibiting confinement of 
fugitive slaves in jails of Ohio, and the marshal retained 
her elsewhere outside of the county jail, until the examin- 
ation. 

The colored people of the city armed themselves for resist- 
ance, but Lucy was, nevertheless, delivered over to her 
master and returned to Virginia. Goshorn was reported 
to have died not many years after, but what became of 
Lucy is not known here. 

This is believed to be the first redition of a slave from 
this city and the last ever returned under the obnoxious 
Fugitive Slave law. Yet the South was not appeased. 
The South was, and had been for some time, preparing 
for the great crisis, and the North was slowly and dimly 
awakening to the coming emergencies by the formation 
of local military companies, and soliciting arms from the 
State arsenal. 

Another occasion for strengthening the determination 
to resist the pro-slavery spirit and the disloyal disposition 
of the South was the visit of President-elect Lincoln, Feb- 
ruary 15, on his way to Washington, to the inaugural cer- 
emonies. His reception in Cleveland was the largest and 
most enthusiastic of all the demonstrations from Spring- 
field, Illinois, to Washington. More than thirty thousand 
people crowded the streets in defiance of a heavy rain 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 87 

storm and acres of mud, while the mihtary organizations, 
fire department, employes of great manufactories, coun- 
cilmen and mayor escorted the President and his son to 
the hotel. Business blocks and dwelling-houses were cov- 
ered with flags and banners bearing patriotic devices, 
while the enthusiastic multitude cheered again and again 
the cause represented b}' the coming savior of the Union. 

Up to this time some two hundred and sixtv-eight men 
had enrolled themselves — five companies of artillerv, two 
of infantry, one of cavalry, and one independent company, 
the Light Guards. Sixty German citizens formed a rifle 
company and applied to Columbus for one hundred rifles. 
This was all anticipatory, voluntary and patriotic, but 
the opportunity and necessity was only in the very near 
future, for on the twelfth of April Sumter was bombarded 
and fell, and three days thereafter the President issued his 
proclamation for seventy-five thousand men. 

The day after the President's call for volunteers Melo- 
deon Hall was filled with people to make arrangements to 
respond. General Fitch, General Crowell, Hon. D. K. 
Cartter and Judge Spalding spoke. On the eighteenth, 
two days after the meeting, the Grays departed amid 
cheers of "God bless you — We'll not forget vou!" and 
"Defend the flag!" The city was draped in red, white 
and blue. So soon as the twenty-fifth, Camp Taylor pre- 
sented an animated appearance. Volunteer companies 
were armed and drilling.* Relatives and friends besieged 

* Ex-Secretary of War Floyd having secured a large portion of the 
govemment implements of war to the Confederacy, it was difficvdt, and 
for a time impossible, for the authorities to supply the tens of thousands 



88 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the gates and implored the guards to admit them. Cap- 
tain T. H. Simpson, United States mustering officer, ar- 
rived to relieve Captain Gordon Granger, mounted rifles, 
and to cooperate v^ith Captain Clinton of the Tenth 
Infantry, the recruiting officer of this post. 

May 3 a conference of governors was held at the Angier 
House, in this city. Governors Dennison, of Ohio; Curtin, 
of Pennsylvania ; Randall, of Wisconsin ; Blair, of Michi- 
gan; Morton, of Indiana, were present. They were sere- 
naded by the Cleveland Band, and addressed the people 
from the balcony. 

On the sixth the Seventh Regiment departed, and on the 
fourteenth the Lincoln Guards were organized, with John 
Friend as captain. 

The Forty-first Regiment, imder Colonel Hazen, departed 
for the seat of war in November, '61. On the fourteenth 
of May the Home Guards were organized, with General 
A. S. Sanford as captain. Stores were closed early in the 
evening to allow merchants and their clerks to learn mili- 
tary tactics. All classes of business men, clerks, doctors, 
lawyers, clergymen, bankers and mechanics, without 
respect to age, and indifferent as to the draft, joined this 
company and were drilled night after night until they were 
pretty well trained, and would have been a very formida- 
ble force for home protection in the absence of all our com- 
panies. At such a time a small force by way of the lake 

of militia with arms. In the absence of muskets for drilHng purposes, 
wooden ones, or dummies, were made, which serA^ed to teach the new 
vohmteers the manual of arms till the State was enabled to furnish them 
with guns. — [Editor.] 




^^^^^, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 89 

could have done the city much injury, and this company 
of drilled citizens was deemed a necessary precaution 
against small detachments of the enemy who might avail 
themselves of our military weakness to raid the city. 

The year 1 862 was one of the greatest doubt and despond- 
ency in Ohio concerning the final results of the rebellion., 
It seemed that nearly all of our available young men 
had alread}' volunteered and enlisted and were in the 
field. But still more men were needed, and the draft 
became a necessity. I^olitical disturbances were unfor- 
tunate, and for a time almost blocked the wheels of mili- 
tary progress in the State. Mr. Vallandigham was an 
ambitious leader, with quite a large following, opposed to 
an armed force against the Confederacy, which greatly 
increased the discouragements of the Union party. He 
was a man of considerable ability, had been in Congress 
and had made what he delighted to call his "Record." He 
seemed to be prompted and inspired by an indomitable 
self-conceit, and a desire for personal notoriety to draw 
public attention to himself, regardless of results, when 
the great majority of the people of the State were agoniz- 
ing amid the calamities of war. Many of the leading men 
of his own political opinions in times of peace declined to 
burn incense for the gratification of that gentleman. The 
sons of citizens of all parties were at the front, and were 
not to be forsaken by their sires, and so they went on with 
the war. To counteract the baleful influences of Vallan- 
digham and his followers, prominent Democrats from all 
parts of the State took the field to encourage enlistments 
and revive the drooping spirits of the people. From Cleve- 



90 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

land there went forth through the State such distinguished 
men of the Democratic party as Judge Rufus P. Ranney 
and Henry B. Payne, who by their patriotic and inspiring 
addresses largely contributed to the restoration of public 
confidence and renewed efforts of the people to increase the 
number of regiments and fill the quota demanded by the 
National government, and expected from a great and 
patriotic State. 

The twenty-fifth of April w^as a day of public and munici- 
pal mourning for the death of Hon. William Case, late 
mayor of the city, a gentleman greath' beloved for his 
high and noble character and his genial and generous 
spirit. His funeral was attended from his late residence 
on Rockwell street. An immense concourse of people were 
in attendance, and hundreds of the poor and humble, to 
whom he had ever been exceedingly kind, filled the street 
for a long distance and wept in silence and in sorrow. 
The mayor, council, and all city officers were in at- 
tendance. 

On the twenty-sixth of May the Perry Light Infantry 
and the Light Guards were under arm.s and ready for the 
field. 

This year (1862) the Legislature passed a law estab- 
lishing the Cleveland Sinking Fund, and named in said 
act the following gentlemen as commissioners thereof: 
Henry B. Payne, Franklin T. Backus, William Case, 
Moses Kelley and William Bingham. This was not onl_v 
an important item of legislation for the city, but fortunate 
in its provisions for securing a board of commissioners 
equal to the production of great financial results. The 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 91 

city has ever taken just pride in the management of her 
Sinking Fund, which, in the hands of able and honest 
commissioners, in twenty years, and before the fund was 
drawn upon for purposes contemplated in the law, aug- 
mented from $361,377.52 to $2,700,000, with a nominal 
expense of only $600. No other citj^ in the United States 
can surpass such a financial record, and even England, the 
land of faithful trusts, can not present a like instance of 
ability and fidelity in financial management. 

February 10, 1863, the council granted a permit to the 
West Side Street Railroad company to construct a rail- 
road to the West Side, to be completed and in operation 
by June 1, 1864. The route was through Vinyard Lane, 
now South Water street. Centre street and Detroit hill; 
a change was afterwards made on the East Side by using 
Champlain street to Seneca street— all of which were hap- 
pily superseded by the Viaduct route. 

In April the Bank of Commerce assumed the title of Na- 
tional, under the law. Its capital of two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars, with the privilege of increasing it one 
hundred thousand dollars more, seems quite modest when 
compared with the same institution with its millions of 
present capital. The bank was then but ten j^ears old, 
but was strong enough in its backbone to pay ten percent, 
dividends to its happy stockholders — in fact, it had done so 
from the beginning— it always walked, never crept. Joseph 
Perkins and H. B. Hurlbut had been jDresident and cashier 
from its organization. 

On the eleventh of May there was a grand mass meeting 
of the Freemen of the Northwest in the city — one of the 



92 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

many great assemblies, impromptu and by notice in ad- 
vance, incident to the four years' military struggle, to con- 
sult and to encourage. Speeches were made by Post- 
master-General Blair, David P. Brown. John A. Bingham, 
General F. S. Carey, General James Lane, John Hutchins, 
J. M. Ashley, Owen Lovejoy and others. 

The opening of the Atlantic & Great Western railroad 
was celebrated on the eighteenth of November by tin ex- 
cursion to Meadville, concluding with a banquet at the 
Angier House, at which speeches were made by General 
Rosecrans, Governor Yates and others. 

December 6 was a day of mourning throughout the city 
for the death of Colonels Creighton and Crane of the cele- 
brated Seventh Regiment, who fell in battle. The funeral 
was the occasion of a vast assembly. Public meetings of 
sympathy had been held and the council in a bod}- at- 
tended. It w^as a day of sincere sorrow. 

This solemn occasion was only too soon followed by 
the public funeral of Major Thayer, a prominent member 
of the bar, who early served in a cavalry regiment in the 
West and subsequently in the Army of the Cumberland. 
In addition to other public demonstrations of sorrow, 
there was a large meeting of the Cleveland bar, on the 
twenty-ninth of December, Judge Ranney presiding, at 
which appropriate resolutions were passed and speeches 
made by Judge Ranney and Bishop Charles W. Palmer, 
F. T.' Wallace and others. 

On the nineteenth of January, 1864, Cleveland was vis- 
ited by the severest snow storm ever known to its citizens. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 93 

All business ceased and railroad travel was suspended for 
several days. 

June 26 the decimated ranks of the Seventh Regiment 
returned from the seat of war. A meeting of military 
committees was held at the Weddell House, August 6, for 
the purpose of organizing another regiment in the Nine- 
teenth Congressional district. 

The same day a fire broke out in the planing mill of J. 
H. Moeller, corner of Seneca and Champlain streets, which 
totally destroyed valuable machinery and a large amount 
of material. The exterior of the building was only saved 
Ijy the energies of the fire department. It was one of the 
oldest buildings of the city, built for a Baptist church. It 
still exists with a varied and singular history. After serv- 
ing many years as a house of religious worship, it was 
leased to the county for a court-house, and used as such 
from the abandonment of the old court-house on the cor- 
ner of the Square till the occupanc\^of the new court-house 
on the north side of the Park. Then it became a German 
theatre, but after a few seasons it slid naturally into a 
dance house, and from that into a gymnasium. Thus it 
has been a temple of religion, law, and the muses, besides 
doing honorable service as a manufactor}-. This venera- 
ble old building has fulfilled the terms of an advertisement 
which we remember to have seen in a Cleveland paper, 
some twenty-five years ago, written b}- a retired clergy- 
man who, in the zeal of his early ministry, had built in an- 
other part of the city a church at his own expense, and 
now wanted to sell it. His statements in the advertise- 
ment touching the substantial character of the structure 



94 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

were honest and truthful, but we felt that his association 
of ideas was rather incongruous and unclerical when he 
announced that the building was "suitable for the wor- 
ship of God or for manufacturing purposes." 

On the twenty-fifth of April, 1861, only five days after 
the President's call for sevent^^-five thousand men, at a 
time when from lack of experience in matters of war there 
probably were not half a dozen men in the cit\' who could 
even guess within fift\^ thousand dollars how much it 
would cost to equip a regiment, or the expense for a day 
to sustain it even in camp, the patriotic women of Cleve- 
land seemed instantly possessed of a pro})hetic vision and 
wonderful foresight of the necessities of the hour and of 
the future of the coming calamities of war. On that day, 
as by inspiration from on high, the ladies held an im- 
promptu meeting in Chapin's Hall to consider how the 
charity and devotion of woman could best serve her coun- 
try in its impending peril. At this meeting Mrs. B. Rouse 
was elected president, Mrs. John Shelley and Mrs. William 
Melhinch, vice-presidents, Mary Clark Brayton, secretar}^ 
and Ellen F. Terry, treasurer. 

Thus began the "Ladies' Aid Society, "soon to be known 
as the Soldiers' Aid Society of Cleveland, without change 
of the organization or the personnels of its officers. Its 
history can not be written here. Its four years of won- 
drous labors and its results are recorded in a ponderous 
volume, yet even in that the story is but half told. The 
unwritten volume is more wonderful still, but its pages 
are lost in the grave of the dead soldier, or exists but in 
the cherished memorv of the survivors of the conflict — 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 95 

the armless, legless and enfeebled citizens of our country — 
and the gratitude of a generation. The results of this 
enterprise of our devoted women was the collection and 
distribution of upwards of a million of dollars. A fitting 
conclusion of this mighty work of woman was the famous 
Sanitary Fair, began on the twenty-second of February, 
1864-, when the four streets of the Public Square were 
covered by a monster building in the form o£a Greek cross, 
in which was displayed all manner of merchandise and 
curious and beautiful things, and a whole multitude of 
bazars were represented, both in material and in costume 
of the ladies in charge, of all the commercial nations of the 
world. The net results were upwards of one hundred 
thousand dollars in two weeks. But we have no room to 
say more here, but refer the reader to the Record of the 
Soldiers' Aid Society- of Northern Ohio, for is it not all 
written in the book of Mary Clark Brayton and Ellen F. 
Terry — "Our Acre and Its Harvest." 

During these excited and troublous times the people 
were oftentimes unnecessarih^ disturbed by rumors, 
groundless of course, but none the less effective in creating 
appreheuvsion of a Confederate invasion of the city by way 
of Canada. 

The frustration of the plan on the part of the Confed- 
eracy to surprise the garrison at Johnson's Island and lib- 
erate the rebel prisoners there confined occasioned much 
excitement ; and while it gave evidence of protection by 
the strong arm of the government, it perhaps awakened 
as much as allayed the people's fears and feelings of inse- 
curity, bv suggestions of what might happen. 



96 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

There were some municipal events during the war of 
prime importance to Cleveland, indicating the change 
from town to city. Two of these were the organization 
of the pay fire department and the introduction of the fire 
telegraph system. In the fall of 1862 the council, by a 
State grant of authority, purchased a steam fire engine 
and equipped the first paid company. In the following 
spring two more companies were fitted out, and before 
the close of the 3^ear, a fourth. With the advent of No. 4 
the old volunteer companies, with their hand engines, went 
out of existence. The coming of the latest approved appa- 
ratus, so much more effective in coping with the demon 
of Fire, was hailed with enthusiastic delight by the owners 
of perishable property, by insurance companies and by the 
people generally. This history would be incomplete, how- 
ever, were it to omit a grateful tribute to the courage, 
self-sacrifice and gallantry of the old --^eteran volunteer 
firemen who, without compensation, protected from the 
flames the lives and propert}^ of our citizens up to 
this time. True, they received the merely nominal sti- 
pend of eight dollars per year from the city, but this 
was deposited in the treasury of the companies to de- 
fray expenses, and such funds often proved inadequate, 
making it obligator}^ upon the brave veterans to go 
down into their pockets and contribute money as well 
as time and strength. There were, in 1862, about thirteen 
companies and about six hundred firemen. Cleveland has 
now, with its quadrupled population, one hundred and 
ninety men, fourteen engine companies, five hook and lad- 
der companies and a fire boat, to protect the city. The 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 97 

forces for battling the flames ma}' at first sight seem to 
have grown in inverse proportions to the number of in- 
habitants, but the greater superiority of the present sys- 
tem, machinery and disciphne over the old "hand engines" 
is such that our city is now, with its fewer firemen, more 
safely provided against conflagration than it was in 1862. 
In the fall of 1864 the fire telegraph system was added 
to the fire department service. By degrees the old tele- 
graph boxes were displaced by automatic alarm boxes, 
which are now being superseded by even better machines 
of more recent devise. 



98 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Cleveland's Prosperity During the War— Fall of Richmond and 
Lee's Surrender— The Celebration of the Great Victory— The 
Assassination of President Lincoln — The Laying in State of the 
Martyred President's Remains in Cleveland— A Review of the 
City's Industrial Development — Cleveland Becomes a Manufac- 
turing City— The Growth of Public Institutions— Two Destruc- 
tive Fires— The Provost Marshal Convicted of Bribery— The 
Return of the Soldiers— Visits From the Famous Federal Gen- 
erals—Sir Morton Peto— The Advent of the National Game of 
Base Ball — May'or Chapin is Elected — The Equal Rights League 
— Establishment of the F'irst Public Hospital. 

^ IL 7HILE the war was progressing in the Southern 
V V States, Cleveland, far removed from the scene of 
strife, seemed but slightly affected by the alternate flurry 
and stagnation of many other cities. Her population, 
from 43,000 in 1860, had reached about 65,000 in 1865, 
an increase of fifty per cent., representing a growth in pro- 
portion to numbers more rapid than that of any other 
Northern city for that period. Her commercial and man- 
ufacturing interests were greatly stimulated by the war, 
atid many new enterprises were inaugurated. The discov- 
eries in the oil regions and the demand for the newly devel- 
oped Lake Superior iron ore, gave to the industries con- 
nected with those products an extraordinary impulse, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 99 

soon placing Cleveland in the front rank of manufacturing 
cities. But the evil results of war were by no means 
unfelt. The unprecedented, high prices of living, the 
scarcity of labor, the occasional alarms of raids from 
over the border, the increased municipal expenses by 
reason of heavy appropriations for bounties and re- 
liefs, the augmented force of police, combined with the 
continual fever ^ad tmrest that awaited every item of 
news from the front— all united to draw away strength 
from business and labor. 

Especiall}^ was the closing period of the war marked by 
events the most stirring in the history of the citv. The 
long suspense of four years was finally relieved on the 
third of April, 1865, by the news of the fall of Richmond,* 
and seven days later by that of Lee's surrender. The 
report of the latter long-hoped-for event reached the city 
at seven o'clock, on the morning of April 10, and soon the 
booming of the "secesh cannon" on the Public Square 
brought out the whole populace, and their united voices 
burst into one frenzied huzza that lasted throughout the 
entire day and far into the night. Business became sud- 

*Some days before this event, a report came that Richmond had fallen. 
The rumor had scarcely reached the city when guns, drums and bands 
were brought out, bonfires lighted, and an immense celebration inaugu- 
rated before the erroneousness of the information was ascertained. 
When, therefore, the news of the actual surrender of the Confederate 
capital reached us, the citizens, remembering with chagrin the ridiculous 
proceedings into which their too eager enthusiasm had precipitated 
them, regarded it w^ith suspicion, and treated the true and glad tidings 
as a canard until it was amply verified and substantiated beyond all 
possible doubt.— [Editor]. 



100 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

denly suspended, and the faces of men, women and children 
spoke out a joy that their throats and lungs were inces- 
santly strained to utter. Country people poured into the 
streets by the thousands, and all classes were fused in the 
universal shouting, leaping and embracing. It was the 
happiest day Cleveland ever saw. Though the air was 
foggy and gloomy, yet in a moment the city sprung, as if 
under a magician's spell, into the most gorgeous panorama 
of red, white and blue, streaming from staffs, church 
steeples, hotels and private houses, floating in huge flags 
from innumerable cords stretched across the streets, and 
folded in unlimited bunting about houses and door-posts. 
Water street, especially, was one solid mass of union 
colors. Even the horses were glorious with banners, and 
unlucky dogs hustled down the streets adorned with 
streamers and flags. The prominent citizens fell into line 
with fifes, tin horns and drums, and all the boys in Cleve- 
land followed at their heels, while brass bands resounded, 
cannon boomed and the city shook with the demonstra- 
tions of her overjoyed multitudes. No such scene was ever 
before or since witnessed. 

But how inscrutable are the changes of Providence! 
Five days later the exultant city was plunged from 
these heights of ecstasy into the deepest sorrow. Between 
two Sundays came the news of Lee's surrender and Lin- 
coln's assassination ; and the patriotic emblems that on 
Monday glorified the city, were on Saturday hidden by 
the mass of black and sombre draping. Flags wrapped in 
black hung at half-mast, festoons of black covered business 
and private houses. Perry's monument was buried in black. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 101 

and streets that before were radiant with the glory of 
bright colors, were now gloomy as death. People were no 
longer assembled in huge crowds, but gathered in sorrow- 
ful knots, with weeping eyes, or hearts bursting with rage. 
They wandered about dejected and sad, not knowing 
what to do, speaking in whispers or with voices hushed by 
grief The very air seemed thick and suffocating. The 
mayor issued a call for a meeting in the Public Square, where 
short speeches were made by Governors Tod and Brough. 
On the next day funeral sermons were delivered in all the 
churches, and on Wednesday funeral services were con- 
ducted. On Friday, the twenty -eighth, just two weeks 
afterthe assassination, the body of the martyred President 
was brought to Cleveland on the way from Washington 
to its resting place in Springfield, Illinois. Just four years 
and two months after his first appearance in Cleveland, 
when on his triumphal trip to Washington to receive the 
oath of office, with the eyes of the Nation turned hopefully 
towards him, he returned to the same people, his great 
work accomplished, but himself the chief martyr to its 
fulfillment. Of the multitude of Cleveland's citizens w^ho 
cheered him on his first arrival, many had also been sacri- 
ficed to the same cause ; others were yet absent in the clos- 
ing scenes of war, and upon the thousands w^ho now beheld 
his returning corpse the sufferings and anxiety and final 
glory of the last four years crowded with irresistible grief. 
The symbols of sorrow that had prevailed for the last two 
weeks were now increased tenfold. Every available spot 
wore a badge of mourning. The funeral train, preceded 
b}'^ a pilot engine, halted at the Euclid Avenue depot, and the 



102 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

coffin with its burden was received by an immense proces- 
sion of military and civic associations, citizens and visitors, 
numbering over fifty thousand. The procession v^ith the 
tolling of the steeple bells and the booming of cannon, 
moved slowly down Euclid avenue to Erie, down Erie to 
Superior, thence down Superior to the Park, where had 
been erected a large building, hung with drapery and silver 
fringe, beneath which rested the catafalque. Here, after 
appropriate ceremonies and impressive prayer, sixty-five 
thousand silently filed past the coffin to look upon the 
fast dissolving features of the honored dead. When all 
was over, the coffin was again conveyed to the train and 
departed for its western destination. The funeral was the 
most impressive and solemn ever conducted in Cleveland 
up to this time. 

Some idea of the commercial and industrial advancement 
made during the war may be gained by noticing a few of 
the principal industries and their standing in 1865. The 
population of the city, as before stated, had increased 50 
per cent. The value of imports from lake traffic had in- 
creased 116 per cent, over that for 1857, and of the exports 
190 percent. During this period were developed those great 
manufacturing industries which, in uniting the coal of 
Ohio and Pennsylvania with the iron of the Lake Superior 
country, and in refining the product of the petroleum fields, 
transformed Cleveland from a commercial to a manufac- 
turing city. These industries were conducted with little 
or no profit before the war, but the extraordinary demands 
of the government called them into a prosperous existence. 
The receipts of coal in 1865 were 465,550 tons, twice as 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 103 

much as in 1860. The sales offices of all the Lake Supe- 
rior iron ore companies were located at Cleveland, and 
their total product, which had increased from 114,401 
tons in 1860 to 247,059 tons in 1864, was almost wholly 
received at Cleveland. The aggregate sales of manufac- 
tured and wrought iron in 1865 was $6,000,000. Petro- 
leum refineries had reached the number of thirty, most of 
them, however, conducted on a small scale, and none run 
on full time. In the lumber trade Cleveland's receipts were 
greater than those of any other market on the lakes east 
of the lumber regions. The ship-building interests, also, 
were heavier than those of any other port. The vessels 
constructed were all wooden, and were to be found on the 
Atlantic coast, in British waters, up the Mediterranean 
and on the Baltic. Other industries, incident to these 
leading ones, shared their rapid progress, but on coal, 
iron and oil it was evident the city's future depended. Her 
citizens had begun to turn their energies from railroads 
and commerce, for which plainly other cities at the head 
of the lakes offered broader scope of adjacent territory, to 
the developing of the resources of these three great natural 
products, and bringing them into the city's limits, there to 
undergo the final preparations for market. The war was 
opportune for such a change, and the energy of the previ- 
ous decade in railroad building had furnished ready means 
for distributing all the coming manufactured products. 

During the succeeding years of peace, this proo-ress, 
covering new fields, aided by great inventions and stimu- 
lated by a more liberal policy, has gone forward by leaps. 
The unprecedented growth of private fortunes and the 



104 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

feeling of common dependence aroused by the war experi- 
ences, have inspired in her citizens the Republican virtue 
of public spirit, and the return of peace marks the inaugu- 
ration of a long series of public charities, improvements 
and adornments; of magnificent churches either built 
anew or remodeled upon older structures ; of public libra- 
ries, hospitals and reformatories ; of colleges and schools, 
all projected and carried on by private citizens. Liberal 
invitations by owners of property have brought in foreign 
capitalists and manufacturers, a policy strangely neglected 
in ante-war days. 

For the first time, also, a metropolitan air began to fill 
the city. In architecture, the old flat, plain-windowed 
styles gave way to the modern artistic effects. Large 
ventures in business began to be familiar; great corpora- 
tions arose, seeking a continental patronage ; huge manu- 
factories flung their banners of smoke to the breeze, while 
palatial residences and paved and decorated streets added 
attractiveness and grandeur. 

During the early months of 1865 occurred two destruc- 
tive fires, which, like almost every casualty of that 
time, aroused suspicions of rebel emissaries. On January 
1 the Ives brewery at the foot of Canal street was de- 
stroyed, and on March 30 the old Atheneum building, 
containing the largest audience room in the city, on Supe- 
rior street, next to the American buildings, was burned. 

An affair of great interest at the time was the discovery 
of bribery in the office of the provost marshal for the 
Eighteenth district of Ohio, Captain F. A. Nash, head- 
quarters at Cleveland. A court-martial appointed by 






;7al^t^./<j5 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 105 

Commanding General Hooker met in Cleveland, April 6, 
1865, and found Captain Nash guilty of receiving bribes 
for procuring substitutes for drafted soldiers, and of 
making false certificates to the government disbursing 
officers, for which they condemned him to be cashiered 
from the army, to pay two thousand dollars fine, and to 
suffer imprisonment for six months. The latter two pro- 
visions of his penalty, however, were commuted by the 
commanding general. 

The return of the soldiers from the wars during the 
month of June w-as the signal for the final enthusiastic 
expressions of patriotism. The council appropriated six 
thousand dollars for their reception, and private donations 
were abundant. As all the soldiers from Northern Ohio 
came first to Cleveland to be mustered out of the service, 
the entire month w-as recjuired to feast and banquet them 
and to care for their wants. The Soldiers' Home, man- 
aged by the Ladies' Aid Society, was crowded with 
returning heroes, many of them disabled and in pressing- 
need of attention." 

At successive periods came also Sheridan, Sherman and 

In the spring of 1865, about the time the surviving Union soldiers 
returned, a large number of Confederate prisoners passed througli Cleve- 
land on their wa3' home. The citizens of Cleveland and Cu3'ahoga county 
gave them a heartj' welcome. They were feasted and cared for in the most 
hospitable manner. We were anxious to disabuse the minds of these rep- 
resentatives of the lost cause of the belief, which prevailed throughout 
the South, that the people of the Western Reserve were their most bitter, 
implacable and malignant enemies. Enemies they were to the slavery' 
princi])lc but not to the supporters of the system as i'.idi\ .duals. — 
[Editor.] 



106 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Grant, each newly risen to fame and known only by their 
portraits and deeds. The reception to each of these gen- 
erals w^as extreme]}' hearty, and the curiosity to get a 
glimpse of them overrode all the barriers that usually hedge 
greatness about. General Grant was feted and lionized by 
the citizens, and to cap the height of enthusiasm, as he sat 
at the princeh' banquet at the Weddell House, a crown of 
flowers like a royal wreath was placed upon his head bv 
one of Cleveland's admiring ladies. 

The Fourth of July was celebrated this year with greater 
rejoicing than ever before. Recent history had furnished 
fresh reasons for its observance, a deeper and broader sense 
of its meaning and of the truths for which it stands. 

The first monument to the fallen heroes of the war was 
dedicated at Woodland cemetery to the dead of the Twen- 
ty-third regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at which an 
address was given b\^ General R. B. Hayes, former colonel 
of the regiment. 

In September occurred the memorable visit of Sir S. 
Morton Peto, the greatest of English railway contractors, 
and a large company of English and Spanish capitalists, 
while on a tour of inspection of the A. & G. W. railway- 
in which their capital had been invested. The party was 
headed by James McHenry, the prime mover in the railroad 
enterprise, and Sir Morton Peto. There were also noted 
bankers, manufacturers, mine owners, engineers, brokers 
and representatives of Spanish dukes and marquises, mak- 
ing in all the most remarkable mercantile body of men that 
has ever visited the city. Their coming aroused peculiar 
and sympathetic interest from the fact that they were the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 107 

men who projected and constructed the great railroad 
during the period of war, when other citizens of England 
were prophesying and wishing the downfall of our Repub- 
lic, and when investments in America were considered as 
very precarious. Such a substantial proof of their confi- 
dence, together with the commercial prosperity which the 
new road promised for Cleveland, was sufficient to secure 
an enthusiastic reception. They were presented on 'change, 
fifty carriages conducted them on a tour of the city, and, 
in the evening, a great feast was provided at the Weddell 
House, where the American, English and Spanish fliags 
were suspended together, and happy speeches of mutual 
congratulation were made. 

The year 1865, among the varied events enclosed within 
its dates, marks also Cleveland's entr}^ into the field of 
what has since become America's National game. Several 
contests of cricket occurred that summer, but, with the 
solid growth of patriotism which distinguished the decade, 
this game was felt to be foreign and uncongenial, and was 
destined to be completely exiled by the new and patriotic 
substitute. A base-ball club, the Forest Citvs, had been 
organized the previous year, and as the fall of '65 ap- 
proached, their increasing skill led them to challenge the 
Penfield club of Oberlin College. This was the first match 
game ever played in Cleveland. The grounds were at the 
corner of Case avenue and Kinsman street. The game be- 
ginning at one o'clock in the afternoon before a large 
crowd of interested onlookers, continued four hours and 
fifteen minutes, till at the end of the seventh inning dark- 
ness kindly interposed. The balancing-up showed that 



108 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Oberlin had sixty-eight runs to Cleveland's twenty-eight. 
The boys acknowledged themselves defeated, but all left 
the field with an appetite for the thrilling and healthy 
game. Several Casualties were reported. One gentleman 
threw his arm out of place, another lost two eye-teeth, 
and the face of another received a swift ball from the end 
of a bat. Though defeated this year, the Forest Citys 
gallantly retrieved their laurels the following spring by 
the unprecedented and never-since-repeated score of one 
hundred and twenty-seven tallies to ninety-three. 

The elections of 1865 resulted in victories for the Union 
candidates. At the spring municipal election H. M. Cha- 
pin was chosen mayor b\^ a majority of eight hundred and 
seventy-five over David B. Sexton, the Democrat nominee. 
At the October election for governor the Union majority 
for General Cox was five hundred and forty-four. 

An interesting meeting of the National Equal Rights 
League was held at Garret's Hall, September 19 and 20, 
attended by one hundred and fifty colored delegates, {vrin- 
cipally from the South, at which the great movement for 
equality before the State and National laws was earnestly 
discussed and agitated. 

In the fall of 1865 was inaugurated St. Vincent's Char- 
ity Hospital, the first public hos]3ital, at the corner of 
Perry and Garden streets. The building of a public hos- 
pital had been serionsh' discussed before the war, and sev- 
eral citizens had determined to start one. But the difficul- 
ties in the way of securing money at that time were so 
great that nothing was done until in 1863, when Bishop 
Rappe was invited to undertake the project. He offered to 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 109 

furnish nurses from the Sisters of Charity, and entered 
with great energy upon the work of raising the money. 
Sectarian jealousies now sprung up, but through the per- 
sonal help of Rev. Professor Peck, of Oberlin, these were 
largely overcome. When one-fourth of the money was 
occured, work was begun, and the building was completed 
at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars. Its architec- 
ture is of the so-called Franco-Italian style. It is built of 
brick, three stories high, and will accommodate two hun- 
dred patients. The City Council engaged to take anumber 
of beds for the cit\^ poor, and the other wards are occupied 
by private patients. The Sisters of Charity have entire 
financial control and are the sole nurses. The surgical 
and medical work is under control of the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of Wooster. 



110 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Active Efforts to Prevent Cholera— The Creation of a Health 
Board — Adoption of the Metropolitan Police System — Presi- 
dent Johnson in Cleveland — A Visit from Loyal Southerners 
—Opening of the Union Passenger Depot— P'rosperity and Fail- 
ure in Commerce — Two Executions for Murder — Incorporation 
OF the Bethel Union — The Cleveland Library Association, 
now "Case Library" — Inception of the Local Historical So- 
ciety—Opening OF the Public Souare. 

THE threatening prospect in 1866 of a visitation from 
Asiatic cholera, which had made its appearance in 
eastern cities, led to unusual activity in cleaning up the 
refuse and garbage of the city, and to redoubled interest in 
the methods of securing the best attention to that most im- 
portant of municipal regulations — the care of the public 
health. Previous to this time, the onh^ special effort in 
this direction was the establishing of a standing commit- 
tee of the Common Council, known as the Committee on 
Health and Cleanliness. But now the Council, urged by 
the popular demand, which had good reason to complain 
of former inefficiency, passed an ordinance creating a City 
Board of Health, to consist of the mayor, city marshal, 
director of the Infirmary, city physician, and chairman of 
the Council Committee on Health and Cleanliness. The 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. Ill 

Board in turn was to appoint a health officer, whose 
duties were the executive supervision of this depart- 
ment. The i^owers of this Board were as yet merely 
advisory, and remained so until at a later date the 
State Legislature made such changes in the charter 
of the city and the constitution of the Board as to 
give them certain legislative functions. They could only 
recommend legislation to the City Council, and the Board 
of City Improvements made the needful rules and regula- 
tions for carrying the health ordinances into effect. But 
under this new stimulus, and the popular desire to escape 
the cholera ravages, the city was brought to its best con- 
dition of cleanliness, and the public health greatly im- 
proved. Four fatal cases of cholera occurred in October 
at Newburgh — not at that time belonging to the cit\^ cor- 
poration — and seven othet cases that finalK' recovered, but 
Cleveland itself wholly escaped. 

On May 1, 1866, went into effect an act of the State Leg- 
islature of the previous session, establishing for Cleveland 
the present Metropolitan Police System . Instead of the old 
s\^stem under which the mayor and city marshal, elected 
by popular vote, had complete control of the police force, 
while the general direction of the funds was left to the City 
Council, this act established a Board of Police Commission- 
ers, consisting of four members appointed by the governor 
of the State in addition to the mayor. They were to have 
entire control of the police force and funds and to appoint 
a superintendent of police, who was to be a member ex- 
officio. The purpose in this new regime was to remove the 
police system from partisan or personal politics and poli- 



112 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

ticians. To secure this result the more efifectually, the 
commissioners were forbidden to receive any pay whatever 
for their services. The office of commissioner was to be 
vacant on the acceptance of its imcumbent of any other 
office, and policemen were to hold their positions during 
good behavior. Two years later the Legislature changed 
the method of selecting the police commissioners by pro- 
viding for their election l)y popular vote instead of appoint- 
ment by the governor. 

On September 3, 1866, President Johnson visited Cleve- 
land on his way to Chicago to attend the funeral services 
of Stephen A. Douglas. He was accompanied by Secre- 
taries Seward and Welles, of his cabinet, Admiral Far- 
ragut, Oeneral Grant and others. The cit}- was filled with 
people; flags and bunting were profuse, and a brilliant 
reception awaited the distinguished party at the Kennard 
House. The President's speech, however, from the hotel 
balcony, was frecjuently interrupted by the assembled 
crowd, and his criticisms of Congress were met by jeers and 
hooting. Epithets were bandied back and forth between 
the crowd and the speaker. Uncomplimentary references 
to his political deeds were shouted out, to which he re- 
torted by hints at "Northern traitors "and a sweeping de- 
nunciation of those before him. The meeting was boister- 
ous and disgraceful, and neither the President nor the 
crowd was appeased by it. 

A week later, a large convention of soldiers and sailors 
met to nominate delegates to the Pittsburgh National 
Union Convention of Soldiers and Sailors, and passed res- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 113 

olutions endorsing Congress and strongly condemning the 
policy of President Johnson. 

On September 20 a notable body of southern loyalists, 
including Governor "Parson" Brownlov^^, of Tennessee, 
Governor Hamilton, of Texas, Colonel Stokes and General 
H. Thomas, of Tennessee, visited Cleveland. A committee 
appointed by the City Council met the loyalists at Erie, and 
conducted them through the city to the American House, 
where they were greeted by a rich banquet and brilliant 
speeches. 

At the spring election of 1866, the highest officer chosen 
was commissioner of water-works. The Union Republican 
candidate was elected by 474 majority. In the fall, the 
Union majority for secretary of state was 807. 

The Union Passenger depot, at the foot of Bank and 
Water streets, was opened November 11, 1866, with a 
banquet given by the different roads. These were the 
Cleveland & Columbus, the Cleveland & Pittsburgh, the 
Cleveland & Toledo, and the Cleveland, Painesville & Ash- 
tabula railroads. The depot at the time of its construction 
was the largest and the best appointed in the United States. 
It is built entirely of iron and stone, is six hundred and 
three feet in length and one hundred and eight feet in 
width. 

During the year 1866 business in some trades was seri- 
ously affected by hard times, but in others there was a 
great increase. The quantit}^ of petroleum received was 
six hundred thousand barrels, more than double that of 
the preceding year. There was a great increase in the 
quantity of the refined product exported, but a decline in 



114 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

prices of fully fifty per cent. Two large factories for sulphuric 
acid were constructed to supply the oil refineries. In lake 
commerce the old side-wheel steamers had almost entirely 
disappeared and propellers were taking their place. 

The record for the year 1866 is darkened by two public 
executions. On Friday, February 9, the extreme penalty 
of the law was inflicted upon Dr. John W. Hughes for the 
murder of Miss Tanizen Parsons, in Bedford, on the ninth 
of the previous August. Hughes had forged a bill of di- 
vorce from his wife, and induced Miss Parsons to elope 
with him to Pittsburgh, where they were married. There 
he was arrested, tried and convicted for bigam}', and sen- 
tenced to the penitentiary, but soon pardoned through the 
efforts of Mrs. Hughes. Later he sought to renew his 
intimac}^ with Miss Parsons, but she rejected him. He 
became enraged, procured a revolver, went to Bedford, 
and finding his victim in the street before her father's 
house, deliberately fired two shots at her. The second 
penetrated her brain and caused instant death. He was 
arrested two hours afterwards, and his trial before Judge 
Coffinberry resulted in conviction. A petition by one thou- 
sand two hundred citizens asking for commutation of his 
sentence to imprisonment for life was without avail, and 
the sentence was carried into effect by Sheriff F. Nicola. 

The second person executed in that year was Alexander 
McConnell, for the murder of Mrs. Rosa Colvin. On the 
twenty -fourth of March he was detected by Mrs. Colvin 
in the act of stealing several articles of clothing from her 
house, near Olmstead Falls. In an altercation which fol- 
lowed, he struck her a death blow on the head with an 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 115 

ax. After coricealing her body near the house, he fled and 
escaped to Canada. WilHam Colvin, husband of the mur- 
dered woman, and a man named Miller were arrested on 
strong circumstantial evidence, and held for trial after a 
preliminary examination. But soon after this McConnell 
was arrested in Canada through the efforts of Sheriff Nicola 
and John Odell. He was tried before Judge Foote and con- 
victed. Before his death he made a full confession. Efforts 
to secure executive clemency failed, and he was executed 
on the gallows. 

The Cleveland Bethel Union, incorporated in 1867, aims 
to support and carry on missionary and Sabbath School 
work in the lower part of the city ; to establish and maintain 
a Christian Boarding Home for seamen and others, and to 
carrv on the work of general benevolence, including lodg- 
ing, food and clothing, and other aid to the worthy poor 
not otherwise provided for. The history of this greatly 
beneficent institution is given in the department of 
"Churches and Charities," to be found elsewhere in this 
work. 

The Cleveland Library Association, whose charter dated 
from 1848, received in 1867 an endowment of twen- 
ty-five thousand dollars and a perpetual lease of the 
rooms on the second floor of the Case building, specially 
arranged forits accommodation by the donor, Mr. Leonard 
Case. These liberal advantages placed the library, which 
was until several years later the only public library in 
Cleveland, on a firm basis and gave it an assured prosper- 
ity instead of a dubious dependence upon fees and fines. 
A grand inauguration concert was given in Case Hall on 



116 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

September 10, 1867, the date of its first opening to the 
pubHc, when several of the greatest ItaHan opera singers 
appeared for the first time before a Cleveland audience. 
In 1876 this entire building, valued at three hundred thou- 
sand dollars, was bestowed b}' deed of gift upon the Cleve- 
land Library Association. In 1880, to commemorate the 
repeated princely gifts which had thus connected the name 
of Case with the librar^^ its name was changed to that by 
which the public had already learned to call it — Case 
Library. To-cliy its rapid growth and choice selection of 
books make its halls constantly sought b}^ large numbers 
of readers and students. 

The Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical soci- 
ety was organized in May, 1867, as an ofi'shoot of the 
Cleveland Library Association, and to-day, though entirel}^ 
independent in the management of its own affairs, yet in 
lieu of a special incorporation, its legal status depends 
upon a Board of Curators appointed by the parent organ- 
ization. Its purposes are to collect all books, pamphlets, 
or original manuscripts that relate in any manner to In- 
dian life, early settlement, geography, history, or antiqui- 
ties of any part of the West ; also objects of interest for 
the museum, such as relics of Indian and pioneer life. It 
has the perpetual lease of the fire-proof rooms on the third 
floor of the Society for Savings building, and a permanent 
endowment of ten thousand dollars. The first officers 
elected were Charles Whittlesey, president; M. B. Scott, 
vice-president; J. C. Buell, secretary; and A. K. Spencer, 
treasurer.* 

* The original signers of the agreement for organization were M. B. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 117 

The museum is made from single donations, and the 
collection of pamphlets and original manuscripts furnishes 
very important information upon early Western history. 

In 1867 the mooted question of opening the Public Park 
came up for final decision before the courts. There had 
always been two opposing parties in Cleveland as to 
whether the Park should be cut across by Superior and 
Ontario streets or should be one "Grand Central Park." 
Down to 1857 the intersectionists were dominant, but in 
that year, upon petition of over two thousand citizens, 
and after heated discussions in public meetings and in the 
newspaper columns, the Council directed the street com- 
missioner to build a fence across the intersecting streets. 
This he did at dead of night, while the energetic opponents 
of the measure were harmless in sleep. After this step feel- 
ing ran high, and for ten years the park was discussed on 
the street and in the Council chamber. Municipal legisla- 
tion upon the fence had always been frequent "to improve 
and repair ; to prevent the depredation of cattle and swine ;" 
"to keep boys and loafers from occupying it as a roosting 
place, to the annoyance of passers;" "to paint it;" 
"to close up all entrances except that leading to the court- 
house;" "to so improve it as to prevent boys from using 
the square as a ball ground;" "to replace the wooden fence 
with one of iron." The Perry monument was stationed 

Scott, J. C. Buell, W. N. Hudson, J. H. A. Bone, Jos. Perkins, Jno. H. 
Sargeant, C. C. Baldwin, Sam'l. Starkweather, Peter Thatcher, E. W. 
Sackrider. Geo. Willey, E. R. Perkins, H. B. Tuttle, Geo. R. Tuttle, A. T. 
Goodman, Henry A. Smith, J. D. Cleveland, A. K. Spencer, W. P. Fogg, 
T. R. Chase, Chas. Whittlesey. 



118 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

in the center of the square and seemed to forbid further 
interference. But the rapid growth of the city and the in- 
terests of the property owners east of the park led to the 
presentation of a petition to the Council in 1867 against 
the further blockading of Superior street. Remonstrances 
immediately followed, and a special committee was ap- 
pointed to listen to arguments on both sides. The com- 
mittee failed to agree; a majority favored the re-opening, 
while the minority deemed that the legal questions involved 
could not be decided by the Council, and should be sub- 
mitted to the courts. The minority report was adopted 
and a case was made out for adjudication. Judge Prentiss, 
in rendering his decision, held that the original survey and 
sales made under the same was evidence of a declaration, 
and that Superior street was thereby dedicated as a con- 
tinuous street from Water to Erie streets. He held further 
that theclosing by the city was unconstitutional, inasmuch 
as no provision was made for compensation to property 
holders. He therefore ordered the city to remove the ob- 
structions. Notice of an appeal was given, but later the 
appeal bond was withdrawn and the Board of Improve- 
ments directed to remove the fence "in the day-time." On 
August 21 Superior street was opened. The following 
week petitions were presented asking for the opening of 
Ontario street. As no opposition was offered the entire 
fence was removed, the streets paved, and Cleveland's 
"Great Central Park" was no more. 

The corporate limits of the city were extended in 1867 
to include portions of Brooklyn and Newburg townships. 
The People's Gas Light company was incorporated the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 119 

same year, and a city ordinance granted the privilege of 
the streets on condition that the company furnish gas to 
the city at a price not to exceed $2.25 per cubic foot, and 
to private citizens not to exceed $3.00. The company was 
to forfeit its rights in case of selHng out to any other gas 
compan}'. 

The municipal election in the spiing of 1867 resulted in 
a majority for the Democratic candidate for mayor, Stephen 
Buhrer, of 455 votes over Peter Thatcher, the Republican 
nominee. For the other offices Republican candidates were 
elected. In the fall Cleveland gave a Republican majority 
of 534 for R. B. Haves, the candidate for grovernor. 



120 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Firemen's Relief Association — Biilding of a New Orphan 
Asylum— The First Iron Steamer— Bessemer Steel— A Severe 
Storm — The Fenians' Campaign Against Canada — Beginning of 
THE Workingmen's War FOR Wages— Two Deatii Sentences for 
Murder. 

rHE Cleveland Firemen's Relief Association was or- 
ganized in February, 1868, and in March of the 
same year the following officers were elected : president, 
Chief Engineer James Hill; vice-president, Engineer James 
W. Dickinson; secretary, Engineer S. H. Brown; treasurer, 
Engineer E. Lindsley; trustees, Dwight Palmer, Amos 
Townsend, Joseph Sturgess. The constitution was signed 
b\^ sixty members of the department. The dues are one 
dollar per month. The membership now numbers one 
hundred and fifty-seven, and the relief fund amounts to 
more than five thousand dollars. The association pays 
disabled firemen ten dollars per week during sickness. In 
case of death one hundred dollars is paid to his family. 
The officers for 1887 are: H. H. Rebbeck, president; J. D. 
Lewis, vice-president; C. T. Garrard, treasurer; C. G. 
Anderson, secretar}'. The present Firemen's Relief Associ- 
ation is successor to the old "Firemen's General Associa- 
tion," which was incorporated in IS^S. The first officers 





/^<y(jix^tn^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 121 

of the old association were J. B. Emmons, president; L. 
H. Cutler, secretary; W. McGauphy, treasurer; Lewis R. 
Giles, J. J. Yinall, directors from engine company number 
one; John Gill, James B. Wilbur, from engine company 
number two; David L. Wood, James Barnett, from engine 
company number four; James Lloyd, David Whitehead, 
from engine company ntimber five; James Proudfoot, Ed- 
ward Wall, from hook and ladder company number one; 
Aaron Lowentritt, Henry Hellemy, from hose company 
number one. This old association was dissolved in 1863 
and the funds on hand were divided among the several fire 
companies. For the five A'cars following, and until the 
organization of the present Relief Association, there was 
maintained a plan of accident insurance — a plan which 
proved very inefiicient.* 

The Cleveland firemen have also a Life Insurance Asso- 
ciation, organized in 1874, with John T. Gilson, president, 
and Charles D. Schwind, secretary. This association 
assesses five dollars on each member in case of the death 
of a member, to be paid to the famih' of the deceased. 
There are one hundred and twenty-five members. The 
present officers are Henry Harmond, president ; Harrj' 
Orland, vice-president ; and Charles T. Garrard, secretarj^ 
and treasurer. 

In addition to these two beneficiar\^ associations con- 

* Early in October, 1887, a defalcation was discovered in the accounts 
of the tieasui-er of the Firemen's Relief Association. The exact amount 
missing has not been ascertained, but it leaves the association with only 
sixteen hundred dollars in the treasury. The defaulting treasurer will, 
it is believed, make good his deficit. — [Editor.] 



122 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

ducted by the firemen themselves, the Legislature pro- 
vided in 1878 for a firemen's pension liind, to be secured 
ft"om one-half the tax on all foreign insurance companies 
doing business in Cuyahoga county. From this fund, in 
accordance with amendments passed in 1886, every fireman 
totallv disabled in the line of duty, having been a member 
of the department ten consecutive years, receives fifty dol- 
lars per month ; in case of death his widow or dependent 
father or mother receives twenty dollars per month, and 
minor children sixdollarseach permonth. Thusthefiremen 
of Cleveland are doubly fortified against these dangers 
where life and health are risked for the whole community. 

In May, 1868, the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati 
Railway Company entered into an agreement for consol- 
idation with the Bellefontaine Railway Company. The 
latter company had previously been formed by the consol- 
idation of the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh & Cleveland Rail- 
road Company, of Indiana, and the Bellefontaine & Indi- 
ana Railroad Company, of Ohio. The name of the new 
company became the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & 
Indianapolis Railway Company, with ofiices located 
at Cleveland. By this consolidation a through line was 
secured from Cleveland to Indianapolis. 

On July 14, 1868, was inaugurated the Jewish Orphan 
Asylum of the second district of the Independent Order of 
B'nai B'ritli (Sons of the Covenant). This district includes 
the western and southwestern states, and the fact that 
Cleveland was chosen for the location of their, asylum is a 
high compliment to the advantages and character of the 
city. The asylum occupies grounds on Woodland avenue. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 123 

The building is a brick structure, formerly used as a water- 
cure establishment, is three stories high, contains seventy 
rooms, and is admirably arranged and managed to secure 
the happiness and health of the children. Their education 
is conducted in the asylum until they are ready to enter 
the grammar grade of the public schools. At the present 
writing a new and spacious building is in process of 
erection, the old structure being found inadequate to the 
growing needs of the institution. 

The people of Cleveland were greatly elated w^hen in 
1868 the first iron steamer was launched. The/. K. White, 
though a diminutive boat, was the first one built entirelv 
of iron by Cleveland parties, and for fourteen years she had 
no successor. She was launched from Blaisdell's ship-yard. 
Mr. R. H. Gordon, Jr., superintended the construction of 
the iron hull. Messrs. Miller and Young modeled and laid 
down the steamer, and Joseph Sarver executed the black- 
smithing. She was owned by Joseph Greenhalgh, and was 
designed for a pleasure boat in summer and a wrecking 
boat in spring and fall. 

The most important innovation in the manufacturing 
history of Cleveland took place on September 5, 1868, 
when the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company turned out their 
first product of Bessemer steel. At that time there were 
but two other Bessemer steel manufactories in the United 
States, and the advantages for Cleveland of introducing 
the process can be appreciated only by those who have 
seen the complete revolution wrought in the iron and steel 
industry during the last twenty years, and the position 
that the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company has taken at its 



124 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

head. Mr. Henry Chisholm, then the general superintend- 
ent of the works, and Mr. A. B. Stone, the company's pres- 
ident, had visited Europe to inspect the works in different 
places, and had secured designs for the plant and brought 
skilled workmen from Sheffield, England, to inaugurate the 
enterprise. The capacity of the first works was from fifty 
to sixty tons of steel ingots per day, and the first trial was 
the metamorphosing of four tons of iron into steel that 
quite met the hopes of the company. Soon after, new 
machinery and buildings for working up the steel into 
plates and other shapes, especially rails, was put in suc- 
cessful operation. 

On September 16 occurred one of the most severe storms 
ever known on the lake. The schooner Echo, from Buffalo, 
with a cargo of coal, went ashore during the night about 
one-fourth of a mile east of the harbor, and before morn- 
ing was completely dashed in pieces. One sailor was 
drowned ; the remainder of the crew escaped to the shore 
by swimming. Another schooner, the Clough, of Black 
river, went to pieces fifteen miles east of the cit}-. Onl}- 
one man was saved, who had lashed himself to the top- 
mast, where he remained thirty-six hours before succor 
reached him. 

During the existence of the celebrated Fenian Brother- 
hood, great activity and enthusiasm was aroused amongst 
the members of that fraternity in Cleveland. They found 
here a large and influential body of sympathizers. The 
purpose of the organization, it is well known, was to free 
Ireland bv force of arms from British thralldom. How 
this was to be accomplished was difficult to tell, but the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 125 

hot-headed enthusiasm of the Brotherhood called first for 
a raid upon Canada. That province, when conquered, 
would furnish a base of supplies for further military move- 
ments. Cleveland was made the grand headquarters for 
Ohio and the South. Three local societies v/ere organized, 
with a membership of over one thousand: the Tara Circle, 
headquarters at 144 Seneca street, over the present busi- 
ness place of Hower & Higbee; Wolfe Tone Circle, 99 
Superior street; and Emmet Circle, Van Tassell's Hall, on 
the West Side. Their efforts at raising funds were highly- 
successful. The proceeds of fairs and picnics, together 
with private contributions, exceeded twenty thousand 
dollars. Public meetings were frequently held at the old 
Brainard's Hall, wheie the Wilshire block now stands. 
Fiery and eloquent speeches were made, denouncing Eng- 
land and stirring up volunteers for the movement on 
Canada. These were listened to and wildly cheered by 
immense crowds of people. Opportunity for fierce indig- 
nation was given when, on June 6, 1866, under instructions 
from the attorney-general of the United States, prominent 
Fenian officers were arrested by United States Marshal 
Earl Bill, on a charge of aiding and abetting violators of 
the neutrality laws of the United States, and the head- 
quarters of Tara Circle were seized. Papers, mihtary 
orders, one box of knapsacks and a box containing four 
muskets were found. The officers arrested were Thomas 
Lavan, head centre State of Ohio; T. J. Quinlan, grand 
treasurer, and Philip O'Neil, head centre Tara Circle. They 
were afterwards released without coming to trial. But 
not to be discouraged, the Fenians organized, drilled and 



126 HISTOKV OK CLEVELAND. 

fully armed and equipped two military companies of one 
hundred men each. Company A, under command of Cap- 
tain Michael Joyce, succeeded in planting their standard 
on Canadian soil, where they joined in a skirmish with 
the Queen's Own, at Ridgeway. After a doubtful victory, 
they scattered and made their way back to Cleveland. 
Three or four of their number were captured, but shortlj^ 
released. The second company was under arms and ready 
to move, when, at the news from Ridgeway, their orders 
were countermanded and the members sent home. At this 
inauspicious time, two companies from Kentucky and Vir- 
ginia arrived in Cleveland. They were cared for by the 
local societies until they could return to their homes. A 
great meeting shortly afterwards, at which Senator A. G. 
Thurman w^as the principal speaker, was held to intercede 
with the British government for the release of Allen, 
Larkin and O'Brien, the "Manchester Martyrs." Promi- 
nent organizers and officers of the Fenians were: P. K. 
Walsh, P. K. Monks, Hugh Blee, Phil. Hussey, John 
Martin, Thomas Manning, W. J. Gleason. The Land 
League of 1869 and the National League of 1883 are the 
direct descendants of the Fenian Brotherhood. 

In the fall of 1867 occurred the first of Cleveland's labor 
troubles. At that time the whole commercial S3^stem was 
undergoing re-adjustment, and when the inexorable change 
reached the wages of labor, it brought hardships and mis- 
givings, which broke out in strikes. The day of inflated 
values was passing away. Gold was receding in value and 
the entire commercial and manufacturing system was com- 
ing down to the old-time specie basis. The profits of man- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 127 

ufacturers, farmers and commerciai men were being lopped 
off. Under such conditions the price paid for labor was 
also gradually reduced. Add to this that the scarcity 
of labor caused by the demands of war was now relieved 
b\' the transformation of a million soldiers into laborers, 
and the reduction of wages became inevitable. The first 
general rebellion against this tendency was organized by 
the Moulder's Union. A strike begun in 1867 against a 
reduction of twenty per cent, in wages, lasted nine months 
and finally failed. This was the harbinger of similar dif- 
ficulties in other industries, nearly all of which resulted in 
the defeat of the strikers. A strike by the Coopers' Union 
in 1869 practically resulted in the substitution of machin- 
ery for hand labor. These losses led to great activity 
in the more thorough organization of laborers. In Sep- 
tember of 1868 a general movement was made to estab- 
lish a permanent association of workingmen. A Trades 
Assembly was organized b}' delegates Irom the different 
labor unions, with O. B. Dailey, president, W. J. Gleason, 
secretary, and Cornelius Coghlin, treasurer. After a two- 
years' existence, however, it drifted into politics and dis- 
appeared. The strength of the labor unions greatly in- 
creased with the increasing prosperity of the country that 
preceded the panic of 1873. The demand for labor was 
brisk, and the market not over supplied. A strike of the 
moulders in 1872 against a reduction in wages ^vas success- 
ful, because labor was well emplo^'ed. Other trades expe- 
rience in general similar fluctuations. Cleveland as a great 
manufacturing centre was made headquarters for the prin- 
cipal international unions. 



128 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Probably no murder trial ever excited greater public 
interest, than did that of Sarah M. Victor in 1868, for 
poisoning her brother, William Parquette, a year previous. 
The murdered inan's body had been buried for nearly one 
year, but was finally exhumed in order to make a chem- 
ical examination of the stomach. This revealed abundant 
evidences of arsenic. Mrs. Victor was arrested, convicted, 
and sentenced by Judge Foote to be hanged on August 20. 
On account of mental derangement, a reprieve of ninety 
days was granted by Governor Hayes. She showed no 
evidence of returning sanit}- and her sentence was com- 
muted to imprisonment for life. After serving eighteen 
years in the penitentiar\% she was pardoned by Governor 
Foraker. 

The fifth person to suffer the highest penalty of the law^ 
in Cuyahoga county was Lewis Davis, who was hanged 
on Thursday, February 4, 1869, for the murder of David 
P. Skinner, a milkman living near Newburg and well 
known in Cleveland. The murderer, with four accomplices, 
all armed, entered Mr. Skinner's house on Saturday even- 
ing, the twelfth of September, 1868, with the intention of 
intimidating the family and robbing the safe of twenty 
thousand dollars, which it was reported to contain. As 
Mr. Skinner, who was lying on a lounge, arose before the 
robbers, Davis fired upon him, the bullet killing him in- 
stantly. The party then fled and returned to Cleveland, 
but w^ere all arrested on Monday morning with the excep- 
tion of one Folliott. Davis was tried before Judge Pren- 
tiss, and through the turning of State's evidence by one of 
his accomplices, McKanna, was convicted. On the night 



HISTORY OF CLKVELAND. 129 

before his execution he made an unsuccessful attempt to 
commit suicide by cutting into his wrist with a piece of 
broken lamp chimney. While in jail he wrote out along 
account of his career which is said to have revealed such 
heinous crime that his wife, for whom it had been written 
in the hope that its publication would realize something 
for her support, peremptoriU^ refused all access to it. The 
death penalty was inflicted by Sheriff Frazee. His accom- 
plices were sentenced for different terms in the peniten- 
tiar3^ 

About this time the Industrial School extended its field 
of usefulness by purchasing a farm. The history of this 
grand institution is too long and too full of interest to be 
treated properly here. An account of its foundation and 
development is given in another part of this work. 



130 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Revival of Our Literary Spirit — Establishment of the City- 
Public Library, the Kirtland Society of Natural Science 
AND THE Law Library Association — A Bit of Railroad His- 
tory — City Elections — Cleveland Becomes the " City of 
National Conventions " — Incorporation of the Lake View 
Cemetery Association — Efforts to Secure Purer Water — 
Building of the Lake Tunnel — The Consolidation of the. 
Medical Colleges. 

UNDER the provision of an act of the Legislature appli- 
cable to cities containing a population of over twenty 
thousand, a tax of one-tenth of a mill was levied in 1867 
to establish a free public library. A room eighty by twenty 
feet in dimensions was secured and fitted up under the 
supervision of Mr. L. M. Oviatt, the first librarian, m the 
third story of Northrup & Harrington's block, on the 
corner of Superior and Seneca streets. In February of 
1869 this invaluable addition to Cleveland's advantages 
w^as opened to the public. It was small as yet, but vmder 
most flattering auspices. The fund up to that time ex- 
pended was six thousand dollars, being the result of two 
years' levy. The total number of volumes was five thou- 
sand eight hundred. Of these, two thousand two hun- 
dred belonged to the former public school library, and 




B.ael, Pub. Co 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 131 

three thousand six hundred were purchased anew. Four- 
teen hundred dollars were expended in furnishing the 
room. As the only condition of membership was respon- 
sibility, a' large number of visitors pressed forward tO' 
enroll their names as members. The rules and regulations 
were so liberal that this library rapidly became a most 
important factor in the educational privileges of the city, 
and was soon compelled to seek more generous housing. 

The Kirtland Society of Natural Science, organized in 
1869, and reorganized in 1870 as a branch of the Cleve- 
land Library Association, is an important educational 
society. Its objects are "the promotion of the study of 
the natural sciences, and the collection and establishment 
of a museum of natural history as a means of popular 
instruction and amusement." It was named after Dr. Jared 
Potter Kirtland, whose collections in natural history have 
greatly enriched the museum. Others who have donated 
valuable collections of birds, insects, reptiles and fishes 
are William Case, John Fitzpatrick and R. K. Winslow. 
The museum occupies rooms in the Case Library building, 
where valuble accessions are being constantly received. 

In March of 1869, the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashta- 
bula Railroad Company and the Cleveland & Toledo 
Railroad Company were consolidated, pursuant to the 
laws of the States of Ohio and Pennsylvania, under the 
name of the Lake Shore Railroad Company. In May fur- 
ther consolidations with the Michigan Southern & North- 
ern Indiana Railroad Company resulted in the Lake Shore 
& Michigan Southern Railroad Company, with an author- 
ized capital of fifty million dollars, and a line of one thou- 



132 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

sand and seventy-four miles of railroad. The net earnings 
of the new company in 1871 were $5,018,768.84. 

Stephen Buhrer was elected mayor for a second term in 
the spring of 1869, by a majority of 2,680 votes. For 
the first time a temperance party was in the field, which 
cast 1,049 votes for its candidate for mayor, and elected 
one councilman. The new council remained Republican by 
a majority of four. In the fall Governor Hayes received in 
Cleveland a majority of 953 votes. 

During the years that succeeded the war, Cleveland 
gained the name of the city of National conventions. She 
sheltered in turn, female suffragists, dentists, homceopath- 
ists, photographers, labor unions, teachers and spiritual- 
ists, from the entire Union, and greeted them all with such 
attention that many repeated their visits. One of the 
most remarkable of these conventions was the first Na- 
tional Convention of Woman's Suffrage advocates ever 
assembled in the world, which was held in Case Hall, 
November 25-26, 1869. Twenty-one States and territo- 
ries were represented, and many of the leading reformers 
of the day were present. After an interesting session at- 
tended by large numbers of citizens, a National constitu- 
tion was adopted under the name of the American 
Woman Stiffrage Association. Henry Ward Beecher was 
elected first president, and plans ^vere agreed upon for con- 
centrating the efforts of the advocates of woman suffrage 
in the United States. The impression made by the pro- 
ceedings of the assembly was highly favorable and is said 
to have won over many people to the cause who were dis- 
posed at first to deride the movement. One of its valuable 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 133 

fruits was the formation, during the following week, of the 
CuA'ahoga Woman's Suffrage Association, with Dr. St. 
John as its first president. 

The Cleveland Law Library Association w^as incorpo- 
rated December 29, 1869, as a stock company of law\^ers, 
with about one thousand volumes contributed by the dif- 
ferent members who took stock of the association in 
return. The first officers were Hon. S. O. Griswold, presi- 
dent; W.J. Boardman, vice-president; Samuel E. William- 
son, secretary; George A. Galloway, librarian. Funds are 
secured by the sales of stock and b}' annual assessments 
of ten dollars on each of the members. In 1873 a special 
act of the Legislature granted to the association five hun- 
dred dollars per year from the ])olice court fund for the 
purchase of books, and required the county to pay the sal- 
ary of a librarian. The county commissioners furnish in 
addition the commodious room built especially for the 
library on the fifth floor of the old court-house. The 
membership of the association at present is about one 
hundred and forty. The librar}^ ranks next to the State 
Law Library at Columbus and contains eight thousand 
volumes, msmy of them rare and expensive. The present 
officers are Hon. G. M. Barber, president; Hon. Darius 
Cadwell, vice-president; A. J. Marvin, secretary'- and treas- 
urer; A. A. Bemis, librarian. 

The Lake View Cemetery Association was incorporated 
July 6, 1869, when it had become evident that the city in 
its rapid growth was crowding out and desecrating the 
old and contracted cemeteries. The new association 
determined to select a spot of easy and pleasant access, of 



134 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

large dimensions, and one not likely to be disturbed. 
Three hundred acres of land were secured by different pur- 
chases, in the beautiful tract five miles east of the Public 
Square, where the natural advantages, the range of hills, 
the altitude, the soil and timber, offered an unequaled 
scope for the highest variety of ornamentation. The 
association is not a stock company for profit, but all the 
receipts from sale of lots or otherwise, are appropriated 
to the perpetual adornment of the grounds. So magnifi- 
cently h?s this work been done and so prompt was the 
erection of costly monuments, that Lake View has become 
one of the famous cemeteries of the United States, a place 
that no stranger in visiting the city fails to see. Some of 
the most elegant monuments are those of T. P. Handy, J. 
H. Wade, George B. Ely, Hiram Garretson, H. B. Hurlbut, 
Selah Chamberlain, Joseph Perkins, H. B. Payne, and the 
lofty National tribute to James A. Garfield. The first offi- 
cers of the association were: J. H. Wade, president; C. W. 
Lepper, treasurer ; J. J. Holden, clerk. Thefirst ground was 
broken November 1, 1869, and the first interment took 
place August 24, 1870. The present officers are J. H. 
Wade, president ; William Edwards, vice-president; C. D. 
Foote, secretary; and W. S.Jones, treasurer. 

Since the first construction of the water-works in 1856, 
no complaint was ever heard about the unfitness of the 
water supply for domestic purposes, until in February , 1866, 
when a yellowish tint and a strong scent and taste of 
petroleum became painfully evident. Investigation showed 
that this taint affected the water about the old inlet, which 
was only 450 feet from the shore, and for 1000 feet further 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 135 

north. It disappeared upon the breaking up of the ice in 
the spring, but returned again each winter, and was found 
as far as 3800 feet north of the inlet. To get beyond such 
dangerous Hmits it was found necessary to take the water 
from a point at least one and a quarter miles from the 
shore. Preliminary surveys were made in 1867 with a 
view of sinking a shaft on the shore near the old aqueduct 
and another shaft at the proper distance in the lake, the 
two to be connected by a tunnel under the bed of 
the lake. In 1869 work was commenced on the shore 
shaft. It was sunk to a depth of 67V^ feet below the sur- 
face of the lake, and a tunnel 5 feet in diameter run out 
under the lake. A large jirotection crib, pentagonal in 
shape, each side 55 feet in length, and having a mean 
diameter of 87V2 feet, was built for the lake shaft. It was 
launched on August 5, 1870, towed out to a point 6,600 
feet from the shore and made fast to five large anchors 
previously placed in position. It was sunk in 36 feet of 
water and loaded down with a thousand tons of stone. 
Four hundred tons of stone were thrown into the lake 
against the exposed sides. A lake shaft was then sunk 
below the crib to a depth of 90 feet below the surface of the 
water and the lake tunnel projected to meet its comple- 
ment from the shore shaft. The construction of the tun- 
nel was hindered by many obstacles. Several hundred 
feet of finished tunnel had to be abandoned and a detour 
made because of the sinking in of the clay. But after success- 
fully overcoming this difficulty and others that arose from 
quicksand and gas, the whole work was finallv completed 
on March 2, 1874, and on the following day water was 



136 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

drawn through it for supplying the city. The total cost 
of the work, including crib, tunnel and connections, was 
$320,351.72. The building on the crib was fitted up for a 
light-keeper and surmounted by a light-house 50 feet above 
the water. Comparisons made by Professor Morley, of the 
Cleveland Medical College, of the amount of solid matter 
dissolved and suspended in the water before and after the 
completion of the lake tunnel, showed that the quality of 
the water was greatly improved. In November, 1873, the 
permanganate test revealed in five minutes the presence 
of organic impurity ; but in November, 1874, after the sup- 
ply began to be drawn at a greater distance from the 
mouth of the river, the same test failed to show as dis- 
tinctly even in two hours, the presence of easily oxidizable 
organic matter Though the water may at times be 
clouded during long-continued storms, this is of minor im- 
portance and harmless, being caused by pure clay ; but 
freedom from all organic impurities is of the greatest im- 
portance to the public health, and this was thoroughly 
secured by the new improvement. 

It is now thought expedient to build a second tunnel, as 
the draft or consumption of water sometimes nearly 
reaches the capacity for supply, and at the present rate 
of increase will soon exceed it. It is to be hoped that an 
appropriation sufficient to construct this needed aque- 
duct will be made. One of the best advantages a city can 
possess is an abundant supply of pure, healthy water, and 
with Lake Erie stretchmg out before us there is no reason 
why we should be stinted in our allowance of this article. 

In 1870 the Charity Hospital Aledical College, which 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 137 

had been organized in 1863, was incorporated with the 
University of Wooster and has since that time been known 
as the Medical Department of the University of Wooster. 
Since 1885 the institution has had control of a University 
Hospital adjoining thecollege building on Brownell street, 
which is of the greatest practical value to its students, 
affording superior advantages for actual clinical instruc- 
tion. Students are taken to the bedside of patients in the 
free wards, and the senior class are invited by the profes- 
sors to be present at their private operations. In 1881 a 
division took place in which a majority of the faculty for- 
sook their school and united with the Medical Faculty of 
the Western Reserve, but the organization of the college 
remained' unchanged and the vacancies were soon filled. 
During the past year the college has changed its calendar 
to the "one session a year" plan, beginning the course on 
the first day of March and continuing for twenty-one 
weeks. It is believed that this change will greatly extend 
the facilities of the college to a class of students to whom 
the opportunities of a winter's term are limited. The 
winter course is substituted by a "Recitation Term.'"* 

■ The faculty of the college comprises Rev. Sylvester F. Scovel, D. D., 
president of the university, Wooster, Ohio ; Leander Firestone, Wooster, 
Ohio; Akin C. Miller (deceased), Frank J. Weed, Charles C. Arms, Rev. 
Charles S. Pomeroy, Andrew Squire, Esq., John R. Smith, C. F. Button, 
Alvin Eycr, F. O. Nodine, 0. F. Gordon, B. B. Brashear, G. C. Ashmun, 
John C. Gehring, J. M. Fraser. 



138 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND, 



CHAPTER XV. 

Cleveland's Growth— Increase in the Coal Trade— An Evolution 
IN Iron — Petroleum and its Influence in the Commerce of 
Cleveland— The Pressing Necessity for Better Transporta- 
tion Facilities— History of Three Important Railroads— The 
Colored People's Celebration — Organization of the North- 
ern Ohio Fair Association — Incidents of a Year. 

THE population of Cleveland in the year 1870, was, ac- 
cording to the census reports, 93,718, or 7,000 more 
than double that of 1860. This estimate, however, does 
not include the population of East Cleveland and New- 
burg, which were soon annexed to the city. The true 
population for 1870 should be put at nearly 100,000. 
Onl}' one city in the Union surpassed Cleveland in the 
growth of population during this decade. This rapid 
growth was mainly sustained by the increased foreign 
immigration. The number of residents of foreign birth in 
1870 was 38,815, or 41 per cent, of the entire population. 
Of this number Germany had furnished 15,856, and Great 
Britain, including Ireland, 15,452. Bohemia had 786 rep- 
resentatives. 

This growth in population was of course invited and 
determined by the enormous advance in trade and manu- 
facturing during the decade, and in this the development 





^. ^4 




HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 139 

of three huge industries gave character to the whole. 
Since the consumption of coal lies at the foundation of 
Cleveland's industries, a glance at the increase of this prod- 
uct might fairly indicate the increase of volume of the 
city's business. In 1870 the total receipts of coal were 
1,060,244 tons, or more than three times those of 1857. 
The shipments had increased to 474, 545 tons, indicating a 
total town consumption of 585,000 tons, nearly three 
times as much as in 1865. Owing to lack of transporta- 
tion facilities, the coal trade in 1869-70 had reached a 
point where the means of supply failed to keep pace with 
the rapidly growing demand. The only railroads by which 
at that time coal was received were the Atlantic & Great 
Western and the Cleveland & Pittsburgh. All of the 
Massillon coals were brought by canal. These disadvan- 
tages led to great energy in constructing new routes to 
the coal fields, which resulted in the completion of the 
Massillon & Cleveland railroad in 1870 and the Lake 
Shore & Tuscarawas Valley railway in 1872. The ship- 
ments of coal by lake had been up to this time monopolized 
by two lake ports, Cleveland and Erie. But Toledo, San- 
dusky, Black River, Fairport and Ashtabula had roads in 
construction leading to the mines, and these soon began 
to share with Cleveland the handling of the product, with 
the result of greatly reducing its price. 

The interests of Cleveland so closely depended upon the 
Lake Superior Iron Ore region that the development of 
the latter belongs to the city's industries. Practically the 
whole amount of iron ore and pig iron received in Cleve- 
land came from those regions. In 1870 the total produc- 



140 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

tion of the Lake Superior mines was 859,507 tons, or 
seven times that of 1860. Cleveland took considerably 
over half of the entire shipments. The most rapid develop 
ment of the use of these ores took place in the years suc- 
ceeding the war, after their superior quality began to be 
discovered. The following tests show how great is their 
preeminence over the best ores of the world : 

Tenacity of best Swedes iron 59 tons to square inch. 

English cable bolt 59 •" " " 

" " Russian 76 " " " 

" " Iron from Lake Superior ore 89V2 " " " 

We quote the following from Mr. James F. Rhodes, in 
the Magazine of Western History : 

The great revolution in the iron industry of our day of the substitu- 
tion of steel for iron, has only tended to enhance the value of the Lake 
Superior ore district as a whole, as more ore fit for Bessemer steel pur- 
poses is there produced than in any other region of the country. The 
Chicago, Joliet, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Johnstown and Wheeling Bessemer 
works depend largely on the Lake Superior ores for their raw material. 
These ores smelted with charcoal make not only the best, but almost 
the only pig metal for making malleable castings. Lake Superior 
charcoal pig for this purpose is used from the Mississippi river to the 
Atlantic ocean. The charcoal pig iron is likewise excelled by none for 
car wheel purposes, making in a suitable mixture with Salisbury or South- 
ern irons the very best of wheels. The quality of the ores is such that 
smelted with coke the very strongest foundr}' and forge irons are made, 
and they admit of a judicious admixture with mill cinder in the blast 
furnace without injuring materially the pig metal for ordinary foundry 
or rolling mill use. This last has been a point of very considerable im- 
portance in the development of the industries in and about Cleveland, as 
valuable material that elsewhere goes to waste is here utilized. 

The petroleum business made gigantic advances during 



HIvSTORY OF CLEVELAND. 141 

this period. Each year brought about greater consoHda- 
tions of capital, and, notwithstanding several disastrous 
fires, far more extensive facilities for receiving and handling 
the product. In addition to the Atlantic & Great West- 
ern railway, which had heretofore been the chief source 
of supply, tlie Lake Shore Railway Company opened a 
connection in 1869 with the oil regions. In 1867 the 
great bulk of crude oil was brought from the oil regions 
in tanks, two of which were placed upon one platform car. 
This was found to be a decided improvement upon the old 
way of shipping in barrels. The growth of this business 
in Cleveland is shown by the following statement : 

Date. Received. Forwarded. 

1865 220,000 154,000 

1866 613,24-7 402,430 

1867 693,100 496,600 

1868 956,479 776,356 

1869 1.121,700 923,933 

1870 2,000,700 1,459,500 

In 1870 Cleveland had reached the head of the petro- 
leum industry, having received one-third of the entire 
product of the oil territory. 

The prosperity of Cleveland had always depended upon 
her railroad connections w^ith the great coal regions. That 
these roads should be operated primarily in the interests 
of Cleveland as against competing cities was felt to be of 
supreme importance. Several companies were incorpo- 
rated with this object, but lived no further than the pre- 
liminary survey. The first road to offer relief to the 
strained coal market was the Cleveland & Massillon rail- 



142 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

road, whose history reaches back to an amendment to the 
charter of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company, 
made on the nineteenth da}' of February, 1851 , authorizing 
the latter company to construct a branch road from Hudson 
through Cuyahoga Falls and Akron to Wooster or some 
other point on the Ohio & Pennsylvania railroad between 
Massillon and Wooster, and to connect with the Ohio & 
Pennsylvania railroad and any other railroad running in 
the direction of Columbus. Subscribers to the stock of 
the branch were authorized to organize a company under 
the name of the "Akron Branch of the Cleveland & Pitts-' 
burgh Railroad Company." On March 16, 1853, the 
name of the company was changed by order of the Court 
of Common Pleas of Summit Count}', to the Cleveland, 
Zanesville & Cincinnati Railroad Company. Work was 
commenced on the branch in June, 1851 ; a part of the line 
was opened in May. 1854, and finally built to Millersburgh, 
Holmes county, sixty miles from Hudson. Under the finan- 
cial panic of 1857 the road became embarrassed and was 
placed in the hands of a receiver until it was sold on the sec- 
ond of November, 1864, by order of the Supreme Court of 
Ohio, and purchased by George W. Cass and John J. Mar- 
vin at three hundred thousand dollars. The indebtedness 
at the time of sale, including stock, was over one and a 
half million dollars. On July 1, 1865, the purchasers 
deeded the property to the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chi- 
cago Railway Company, which in turn leased it along 
with their own property to the Pennsylvania Company. 
On November 4, 1869, it was again sold, this time to 
the Pittsburgh, Mt. Vernon, Columbus & London Rail- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 143 

road Company, which had been incorporated May 11 
of the same year. The latter company had purchased 
three days earher that part of the railroad formerly belong- 
ing to the Springfield, Mt. Vernon & Pittsburgh Railroad 
Company, lying east of Delaware, and after these acces- 
sions its name was changed, on December 22, 1869, to 
the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Delaware Railroad Company. 

The Massillon & Cleveland Railroad Company was 
incorporated October 3, 1868, with a capital stock of two 
hundred thousand dollars, and authorized to construct a 
road from Clinton on the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincin- 
nati railroad, to a point on the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & 
Chicago railway, namely Massillon, thirteen miles. This 
final connecting link between Cleveland and Massillon 
was completed in the spring of 1870. It was leased to 
the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railway Company, 
and went with this company's property on November 4, 
1869, into the hands of the Pittsburgh, Mt. Vernon, 
Columbus & London Railroad Company. This company 
under its new name of the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Dela- 
ware Raiload Company completed its road to Columbus 
in 1873, and in 1886 its name was changed to the Cleve- 
land, Akron & Columbus Railway Company. General 
G. A. Jones, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, was appointed receiver 
of the road in 1880, and George D. Walker receiver in 
1885, but it is now operated by the company with the gen- 
eral ofiices at Akron, Ohio. 

While the Cleveland & Massillon railroad was in con- 
struction, the people of Cleveland were activeh'- discussing 
another road into the same regions. The Lake Shore & 



144 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Tuscarawas Vallc}- Railway Company filed its certificate 
on Jul}^ 2, 1870, to build a road from Berea to a point in 
Tuscarawas county on the line of the Pittsburgh, Cincin- 
nati & St. Louis railway, with a branch from Elyria on 
the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railway to a con- 
venient point on the main line in Medina county. The 
road was completed in August, 1873, from Elyria through 
Grafton to Urichsville. The first officers of the road were: 
W. S. Streator, president; W.H. Grout, secretary-, auditor, 
cashier, general ticket and general passenger agent ; S. T. 
Everett, treasurer; H. M. Townsend, superintendent; 
Robert Moore, engineer. On October 31, 1872, the com- 
pan}' purchased from the Elyria & Black River Railway 
Compan3' eight miles of road extending northward from 
Elyria to Black River Harbor. In 1874 the road was 
placed in the hands of Mr. E. B. Thomas as receiver, and 
after varying fortunes was finally reorganized in 1883 
under the name of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling Rail- 
way Company. 

The Valley Railwa}^ Company was incorporated August 
31, 1871, to construct a railroad from Cleveland to Bow- 
erston, Harrison county, via Akron and Canton. In Janu- 
ary, 1873, the proposition to make the city a subscriber to 
the company's stock in the sum of one million dollars, was 
submitted to the voters of Cleveland, but failed to secure 
the two-thirds vote necessary for such a step. The business 
men of Cleveland, however, raised five hundred thousand 
dollars in stock subscriptions, and work upon the road 
was commenced the same year. But the panic which 
speedily followed stopped active proceedings until the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 145 

year 1878, when it was again revived, and in 1880 pushed 
through to Canton. Two years later it was extended to 
Valley Junction, its present terminus. In 1875 an ar- 
rangement was made with the city by which the latter, 
after securing from the State so much of the Ohio canal as 
was included within the city limits and building a weigh- 
lock at the new junction of the canal and the Cuyahoga 
river, leased the old canal bed to the Valley Railway Com- 
pany for ninety-nine years and received in payment two 
hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars in the road's 
first mortgage bonds. Those gentlemen who were most 
energetic in opening up this substantial allj^to Cleveland's 
prosperity were: J. H. Wade, James Farmer, N. P. Payne, 
S. T. Everett and L. M. Coe of Cleveland, and D. L. King 
of Akron. 

On April 14, 1870, the colored population of Cleveland 
broke out with a glorious celebration over the ratification 
of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States. A long procession, headed by local 
bands, marched through the streets to the tune of 
"John Brown's Body," their banners inscribed to Lin- 
coln, Grant, Garrison and the anti-slavery heroes. In the 
evening speeches were made, the colored people were 
eulogized, and rosy prophecies for their future freely in- 
dulged by both Republicans and Democrats. 

The refusal of the State Board of Agriculture to allow 
the Ohio State Fair to be held in Cleveland in 1870-71, 
undoubtedly redounded greatly to the interests of the city, 
since it led to the establishment of the Northern Ohio Fair 
Association. Vigorous effort had been made to secure the 



146 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

State fair, and ten thousand dollars had been pledged for 
its support. But failing to secure it, several citizens de- 
termined to place the amounts alread}' subscribed in in- 
vestments in a permanent fair for Cleveland. The project 
received immediate and cordial support both in Cleveland 
and throughout the northern portions of the State. Pub- 
lic meetings were held, an association was organized 
under the name of the "Northern Ohio Fair Association," 
and the following gentlemen were chosen to act as incor- 
porators: Amasa Stone, jr., J. H. Wade, J. P. Robinson, 
Worthy S. Streator, Sullivan D. Harris, Azariah Everett, 
Amos Townsend, William Bingham, Henry Nottingham, 
David A. Dangler, William Collins, Oscar A. Childs, Lester 
L. Hickox, Oliver H. Payne, Alton Pope, Waldo A. Fisher. 
The capital stock was fixed at three hundred thousand 
dollars, divided into shares of fifty dollars each. On this 
stock ten per cent, was to be paid down and further in- 
stallments as required. The purpose of the association, 
as declared in its charter, was to promote agriculture, 
horticulture and the mechanic arts in the Northern and 
adjoining counties of Ohio. All feelings of sectional jeal- 
ousy were disclaimed. It was evident to every unbiased 
mind that the time had come when the rapid industrial 
progress of Cleveland and the surrounding territory de- 
manded a permanent fair of easy access instead of a tem- 
porary and itinerant State fair, and that the city of Cleve- 
land was destined to be its abode. The committee on 
location, after extended inspection, reported upon nine 
tracts of land adjoining the city. The one finally chosen 
was known as the old Sprague property, comprising 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 147 

eighty-seven acres and offered to the association for seven- 
ty-six thousand dollars. Access to it is highly favorable, 
since the St. Clair Street railway runs to the middle of it 
and the Lake Shore railroad runs along one side. The 
grounds are nearly level, affording opportunity for the 
construction of that magnificent race course on which has 
since been made the fastest trotting record known to the 
world. A clear stream of water breaking from several 
springs, traverses the grounds, and the natural advan- 
tages, together with the many improvements, have made it 
probably the finest for the purpose in the world. Pleasant 
drives were constructed ; stalls for live stock, a railroad 
entrance and office, a power hall and an amphitheatre 
erected the first season. 

The first fair was opened on October 4, 1870, and con- 
tinued three days. All the available space was occupied 
by exhibitors, and the display was complete and varied in 
every department, far beyond the highest expectations of 
its friends. Its success was assured from the start, and its 
subsequent popularity is one of the crowning attractions 
of the city. 

The increased interest in the scientific and intelligent 
prosecution of the different farming industries, which has 
peculiarly marked the last twenty-five years, expressed 
itself in 1870, in addition to the organization of the North- 
ern Ohio Fair Association, by the creation of the Cleve- 
land Horticultural Society, Alexander Mcintosh, president, 
and the Northern Ohio Poultry Association, Colonel S. D. 
Harris, president. 

The fourth annual meeting of the society of the Army of 



148 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the Cumberland was held in Cleveland, November 25-26, 
1870. This was one of the most famous of the reunions 
of that famous army. Its great commanders were present, 
Generals Rosecrans, Sherman, Hooker, Granger, Ammen, 
Garfield, Palmer, Kimball, Slocum, Barnum. besides great 
numbers of its gallant soldiers. This was the occasion of 
the delivery by General Garfield of his immortal eulogy 
upon General George H. Thomas. Addresses were also 
delivered by Governor Palmer, of Illinois, General Rose- 
crans and others. 

The year 1870 was rendered badly notorious by four 
disastrous storms and an earthquake. Three of the 
storms were confined to the city and contented themselves 
^th snatching up trees, scattering houses, and seriously 
distracting the municipal features. The fourth storm, on 
the night of October 17, was general over the lakes, and 
resulted in heavy losses to shipping. At Cleveland harbor 
there were three wrecks — small boats attempting to make 
the port and dashed to pieces against the piles and rocks 
with the loss of their men. Three days after this storm 
the earthquake came rattling on. It was a mild earth- 
quake, however, and left as soon as it had shaken the 
upper stories of buildings and upset the nerves of their 
inmates. A large number of fainting spells and broken 
crockery was all that attested its fugitive rappings. 

Both the spring and fall elections of 1870 gave Repub- 
lican victories. In the spring of 1871 Frederick W. Pelton 
was elected ma^^or by a majority of 1,056 votes, and a 
Republican Council was returned. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 149 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Work-House Separated from the Infirmary — The Necessity 
OF A Reform Farm — Celebration Germany's Victory Over 
France — Creation of a Board of Park Commissioners — Pur- 
chase and Improvement of Lake View Park — Visit of a Rus- 
sian Duke— Annexation of East Cleveland Village — A Board 
OF Fire Commissioners Created — The Fire Department Inves- 
tigation. 

(r~\^ January 1, 1871, the Cleveland Work-house and 
^^^ House of Correction was divorced from the City 
•Infirmary, to which it had previously been an adjunct, and 
established as an independent department in the large 
building, just erected on the grounds on Woodland avenue. 
The cost of this building was about two hundred and fift3^ 
thousand dollars. It includes workshops for men and 
women, refuge for girls, chapel, hospital, engine-house, and 
other accessories. There are, in fact, two separate institu- 
tions embraced within the walls of the edifice, and yet 
each is kept as far as possible in a distinct department. 
The Work-house department is a punitive institution and 
receives only adult offenders. The Refuge department is a 
school and receives juvenile offenders less than sixteen 
years of age. The object and method of discipline in each 
are different. The leading aim of both is to effect, if possi- 



150 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

ble, the moral reformation of their inmates, and at the 
same time to so conduct the industries of the two depart- 
ments as to make them self-supporting. In the solution 
of the latter problem very creditable success has been made. 
During its histoiy this has been one of the few prisons in 
the country that has had constant employment for every 
inmate able to work. The manufacture of brushes is the 
main industrj-, and these articles have generally found a 
demand equal to the production. The profit on the brush 
account in 1885 was $25,633.88. The system of labor 
employed is that which is known as the State or City 
Account System, in which the city has furnished the shops 
and machiner}^ and implements, while the management 
purchases the raw stock, conducts the manufacture under 
skilled foremen, and sells the product through the same 
channels as do other manufacturers. 

As a means of reforming offenders, the Work-house has 
not produced lasting results. The prisoners, w^ho have all 
reached the age of obduracy, are sent up for short terms, 
and leave the institution before a trade can be learned or 
a reformation effected. During the year 1885 twenty-six 
hundred and eighty-three persons were in confinement, and 
at the close of the year there remained four hundred and 
sixty-eight prisoners, of whom eighty-seven were females. 
In many instances the same individual was repeatedly 
convicted and imprisoned, frequently for the same offense. 
To remedy this flagrant failure of the present system and 
accomplish that highest aim of prison discipline, the bet- 
tering of the condition of the imprisoned, two suggestions 
worthy of careful attention by the citizens of Cleveland 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 151 

have been made by the superintendent of the Work-house; 
one, to increase the penalty for every repeated violation 
of the law by the same individual, and another, to adopt 
a system of indeterminate sentences, by which the offender 
may be confined as long as is necessary to effect his 
thorough reformation. 

The House of Refuge exhibits slightly better results in 
the way of moral reclamation. The children all pass 
through a course of education and training designed to fit 
them to become honest, industrious and intelligent citizens. 
The schools are open the year through, are divided into 
three grades, and a thorough final examination, with a 
record of good deportment, is required for the discharge of 
the pupils. If they have homes they are sent to them ; if 
not, they are retained intheinstitution until suitable homes 
or places can be secured. Religious instruction every Sab- 
bath is conducted by Protestant ministers and teachers and 
on alternate Sabbaths by a Catholic clergyman. It has 
been long noticed that a weak point in the Refuge system 
is the discharge of the children to go back to the homes 
from which they came, where their reform training is soon 
forgotten and they enter again upon a career of idleness 
and vagabondage. Another most serious evil is the prox- 
imity of the Reform School to the contaminating atmos- 
phere of the hardened culprits in the Work-house. They 
should have larger grounds and purer air, where vigorous 
bodies could be trained with improved morals. An inde- 
pendent House of Refuge with a farm is a need that should 
have prompt attention. The preliminary step in this 
direction has been taken in securing the passage through 



152 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the Legislature of a bill authorizing the city to issue bonds 
for a sum not to exceed one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars for the purpose of purchasing lands and erecting 
buildings thereon for a "City Farm School," and it now 
remains for the city to execute the work. "This," says the 
superintendent in a late report, "is not a question for a 
day or for a year, but for all time ; a question of future 
manhood and usefulness, or of profligacy, disgrace and ruin. 
The responsibility of the elevation or degradation of these 
youth rests with the citizens of Cleveland." 

The first directors of the Work-house and House of Cor- 
rection were: Harvey Rice, J. H. Wade, George H. Burt, S. 
C. Brooks and William Edwards. The present able super- 
intendent, W. D. Patterson, has occupied the position 
since May, 1872. 

Cleveland's sixteen thousand German citizens turned out 
as one on April 10, 1871, to celebrate the glorious victory 
of the United Fatherland over the armies of France. A 
grand triumphal arch was erected on the Public Square, 
surmounted bv the eagle of the German Empire and 
flanked by the American flag and the new flag of United 
Germany. Upon the entablature of two side arches were 
pvramids of cannon balls, with cannon and stacked mus- 
kets and the flags of the different states of Germany. The 
height from the pavement to the top of the eagle was 
eightv-five feet. The whole structure, designed in the Cor- 
inthian style of architecture, frescoed and painted in imi- 
tation of marble, festooned with evergreens and wreaths, 
was the most beautiful of its kind ever seen in the city. 
Public and private houses v\^ere richly decorated, the flag 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 153 

of United Germany being often seen twined with that of 
America . A long procession marched through the streets, 
with bands and singing, conducting a large wagon 
bearing the heroic statue of "Germania," the protec- 
tress ol her people, her left arm upon her shield, her right 
arm upon her sword. Enthusiastic addresses were given 
by Mr Thieme and Dr. Jacob Mayer, to which thousands 
listened with frequent applause. The day closed with a 
grand ball at the Central Rink, with the spirit everywhere 
pervasive of '' Deutschland ueher Alles/' 

The Board of Park Commissioners was created by ordi- 
nance August 22, 1871, and in October the mayor appointed 
and the Council confirmed as the first commissioners the fol- 
lowing gentlemen: Azariah Everett, O. A. Childs and J. H. 
Sargeant. This was the inaugural of a systematic attention 
to beautifying and maintaining theparksof thecitv- Previ- 
ous to this period. Council resolutions had at intermittent in- 
tervals directed the street commissioner to repair sidewalks 
or fences, or to plant trees in the place of old ones decayed, the 
cost of such improvements being paid from the Gei:eral or 
Street Fund. In 1872, by appropriation and issueof bonds, 
thirty-five thousand dollars was placed in the hands of the 
park commissioners, with which the}- thoroughly remodeled 
the grounds of Monumental Park, layingnew and improved 
walks around and through the four quarters, erecting the 
pavilion, rustic bridge, fountain, pond and rock-work, and 
transforming the v^^hole enclosure from a ragged commons 
into a beautiful landscape. In 1873 the first tax levy was 
made for park purposes and realized about fourteen thou- 
sand dollars. In 1874 the commissioners, after being 



154 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

granted the proceeds of a loan of fifty thousand dollars, 
began the construction of Lake View Park. For ten years 
previous to this time the project of building a lakeside park 
had been often agitated. The first official expression re- 
lating to it was made in November, 1865, in a report by 
a Council committee. "The necessity for parks was so 
little appreciated during the early days of our city, that it 
is said a plat of ground of several acres in extent lying on 
the bank of the lake was given to the then village of Cleve- 
land for the purpose of a park, on the sole condition that 
the trustees should take measures to fence it in. Unfortu- 
nately there was not sufficient enterprise or liberality on 
the part of the trustees to appropriate a few dollars to 
carry out this condition ; consequently, the land reverted 
to the donor." To remedy- the errors of the past, thc}^ 
urged immediate measures for securing the land for park 
purposes before the rapid increase in value of real estate 
would place such a project beyond the power of the city's 
exchequer. To transmogrify the cragged, yellow hillside 
into a charming park, they rightly represented, would 
create such an impression on the mind of the stranger who 
passed along in the cars at the foot of the bank, and would 
add so greatly to the beauty and attractiveness of Cleve- 
land, that men of capital would choose this their home, thus 
adding greatly to the tax duplicate, and summer residents 
would congregate to such a degree as to rival Cleveland with 
Newport as a watering-place. The enhancement of values 
that would accrue to the real estate along the park would 
bring extra tax enough to pay the interest on the cost of 
the park. But it was not until 1869 that a bill could be 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 155 

got through the Legislature granting the city the right to 
appropriate the lands for the park. Then followed three 
years of resolutions, counter resolutions and public discus- 
sion, when the Council unanimously resolved to take and ap- 
propriate for park purposes land lying between Erie street 
and Seneca street, and between the right of way of the Cleve- 
land & Pittsburgh Railway Company and Summit street, 
together with a strip of land south of Summit street to be 
used in widening the latter street. The necessary legal 
steps were forthwith taken, and on May 2, 1873, the jury 
made its award, aggregating $234,951.52. To meet this 
indebtedness, seven per cent, bonds, to the amount of two 
hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars, were issued, pay- 
able in fifteen years. Again a year's delay, as if so large a 
debt had staggered the Council. But in November, 1874, 
a loan for fift}^ thousand dollars was authorized, and the 
commissioners immediately began the improvements and 
pushed them forward with energy and discretion until was 
completed one of the largest, most unique and beauti- 
ful of all the parks of Cleveland. Covering ten and a half 
acres, and overlooking for nearly half a mile the grand ex- 
panse of Erie, it is the constant resort of all classes of 
people. Its refreshing verdure and cool fountains lend a 
glad charm to the restless, busy lake. In 1879 permiss'on 
was granted to private parties for building a bathing and 
boat-house and for the erection of a bridge over the tracks 
of the railroads. Franklin Circle, on the West Side, the 
smallest of the public parks, and Clinton Park, at the 
northern extremity of Dodge street, were also resurrected 
and beautified bv the new Board of Park Commissioners. 



156 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

The reception given by the people of Cleveland in 1871 
to His Imperial Highness, the Grand Duke Alexis Alexan- 
drovich, fourth son of the Emperor Alexander II. of Rus- 
sia, was one in which excessive curiosity was prominent 
more than enthusiasm. It was, however, of good report 
for the city, for His Highness departed well pleased and 
maintaining that he had learned some things w^hich he 
intended to put into practice on his return home. During 
his three-days' stay he was escorted to all the parks, cem- 
eteries, factories, foundries, to the rink and ever^- point of 
interest. The imperial party included the Russian minis- 
ter, consul-general, and other high Russian functionaries. 
They all enjoyed themselves, and Cleveland was happy in 
the thought that she had looked upon a very piece of roy- 
alty. 

The question of annexation of the village of East Cleve- 
land was submitted to the qualified electors of Cleveland 
in April, 1872, and received 7,240 votes in its favor 
against 2,885 in opposition. The vote on the same prop- 
osition in East Cleveland was 268 in favor of annexation 
and 198 opposed. In accordance with this expression of 
popular choice, commissioners were appointed by the 
council, namely: Messrs. H. B. Payne, J. P. Robison and 
John Huntington, to confer with John E. Hurlbut, John 
W. Heislev and William A. Neff, commissioners for the vil- 
lage of East Cleveland. It was agreed that the annexed 
district should constitute two wards ; that the liabilities 
of each corporation should be assumed by the city of 
Cleveland, except assessments previously made for street 
and other improvements, which were to be collected ac- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 157 

cording to the existing ordinances ; and the Council was to 
expend within eighteen months after the completion of the 
annexation, seventy-five thousand dollars in extension of 
the fire department, water pipe and other improvements in 
the territory comprised in the limits of East Cleveland. 
These conditions were finally approved on October 29, 
1872, and the annexation was declared accomplished. 
This incorporation added eight miles of territory to the 
city, making, with the annexations of territory in Brook- 
lyn, Newburg and East Cleveland townships during the 
same and following year, a grand total of twenty-six 
square miles of territory included within the border lines 
of the city of Cleveland. 

An act of the Legislature of April 29, 1873, provided for 
the creation of a Board of Fire Commissioners for the city 
of Cleveland, to be composed of five members appointed 
by the mayor and approved by the Council, each member 
to hold his ofiice for a term of five years. This was 
amended in March, 1874, and the board made to consist 
of the mayor, ex-officio member, the chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Fire and Waterof the Common Council, and three 
resident freeholders to be nominated by the mayor and 
approved by the Council. The first Board of Fire Commis- 
sioners, were: Mayor C. A. Otis, Messrs. H. D. Coffin- 
berry, W. H. Hay ward and H. W. Luetkemeyer, citizen 
members appointed by the mayor, and A. T. Van Tas- 
sel, chairman of the Council Committee; A. B. Beach, 
secretary. The organization of the board was the signal 
for greatly increased efficiency in the department, espe- 
cially in the conduct of the finances. In 1876 the composi- 



158 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

tion of the board was again changed, making it this time 
to consist of the chairman of the Council Committee on 
Fire and Water and four citizen members, the latter to be 
elected by popular vote for terms of four years each. 

Charges of irregularity in the management of the funds 
of the Fire Department led the Council, in July, 1873, 
to appoint a committee of three persons, consisting of 
D. Cadwell, A, T. Van Tassel and O.J. Hodge, to examine 
vigorously into the affairs of that department. The com- 
mittee, after prolonged sessions, made a report exonerating 
all against whom charges were made from any intentional 
wrong, but adducing evidence to show that the business 
affairs of the department had "not been characterized by 
that system and strict adherence to the law which the 
public service requires." It appeared that engine-houses 
had been built without written contracts and without 
letting them to the lowest responsible bidder, and that 
other delinquencies had frequently occurred. The commit- 
tee's report, after relieving the officers of blame, closed by 
recommending that ordinances be passed defining the 
duties of all city officers, including committees of the Coun- 
cil; regulating the purchase of supplies for all departments 
of the city; and providing for the letting of contracts. 
Though this report failed to remove the suspicions of 
wrong, no further action was taken until a year later when, 
after a change in the politics of the Council, a new commit- 
tee of investigation was appointed, composed of Ed. Rus- 
sell, John H. Farley and Edward Angell. A large num- 
ber of witnesses were examined and the final report was 
made on July 28, 1874, declaring that the committee's in- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 159 

vestigations had elicited facts very damaging to the Fire 
and Water committee of the Council as constituted for the 
previous five or six years ; also to Chief Engineer James 
Hill, First Assistant Engineer John A. Bennett, Ex-Second 
Assistant Engineer McMahon and Superintendent of Fire 
Alarm Telegraph, H. H. Rebbeck; that the chief engineer 
had made false reports to the Council and had mutilated 
the books of the department by removing leaves contain- 
ing entries of goods sold and money received by him; that 
he had connived with the superintendent of Fire Alarm 
Telegraph in building telegraph lines for outside parties, 
the material for the same being taken from the city ; that 
the first assistant had not reported bids to the Committee 
on Fire and Water as he received them ; and that the com- 
mittee itself had conducted the department in an extrava- 
gant, unbusinesslike and often illegal manner. The report 
closed by introducing a resolution that the chief engineer, 
first assistant engineer and superintendent of Fire Alarm 
Telegraph be discharged from the service and successors 
appointed. This stirred up active opposition, and many 
maintained that the investigations had been carried on in 
a spirit of persecution. The report was referred to the 
newly organized Board of Fire Commissioners, and by 
them returned to the Council with the explanation that in 
their opinion the board had no legal authority to inquire 
into and punish any acts of personal misconduct done 
before the organization of the board by members of the 
Fire Department, but which had not been repeated since 
its organization. In December of the same year, however, 
the board removed Chief Engineer James Hill for incom- 



160 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

petency, and promoted John A. Bennett and H. H. Reb- 
beck, thereby exonerating the latter of the charges against 
them . • 

Thus was closed the only great scandal with which the 
government of Cleveland has been afflicted. It can truly 
be said that her municipal affairs, compared with those of 
other great cities, have been peculiarly clean and free from 
reproach. 




^g ■' J.y AH , Eitctae..'^' f^ 



l/i^c^^/ /p^-/^^^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 161 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The Tax Relief League— Burning of the Newburg Insane Asylum 
— The Homceopathic Hospital — Inventors' Exhibition— Relief 
TO the Chicago Fire Sufferers— The Horse Epidemic of '72— 
Three Important Conventions — Annexation of Newburg — A 
Military Organization. 

THE Tax Relief League, composed of the most influen- 
tial men of the city, was organized early in 1870. 
The causes which led to this movement were the increasing 
burdens of taxation. Their first investigation showed 
that the tax rate had increased from eight to nineteen 
mills in the decade preceding. The report had the sanc- 
tion of such men as Hon. Harvey Rice, John A. Foote, A. 
Hughes, Ansel Roberts, S. Williamson and H. B. Payne. It 
was submitted to the Council theday of its publication and 
was met with a fiery reception. The action of the author- 
ities was sustained by R. R. Herrick, then chairman of 
the Council Committee on Finance, who held that the de- 
cennial appraisement would remedy the difficulty, and 
though the debt of the city was then over two millions as 
complained of, the real property of the city was worth over 
three million five hundred thousand dollars. The league 
served a good purpose, acting as it did to check ill-advised 
expenditure of money. 



162 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

One of the most disastrous fires of tliis period was the 
burning of the Northern Ohio Hospital for the insane, 
which rendered homeless insane from all the Northern 
counties of the State, and involved a loss of over half a 
million dollars. On September 26, 1872, men at work on 
the roof discovered fire issuing from the windows of the 
dome. The alarm was given and a scene of unparalleled 
consternation ensued. The superintendent was absent, 
but the remaining officials did ever^^thing in their power 
to save the building and the inmates. Alarms were 
turned in to the city, the hose attached to the tanks, and 
buckets and ladders plied with all speed, but the water 
tanks soon fell, rendering utterly useless all attempts to ex- 
tinguish the fire until the arrival of fire department from 
the city an hour later. In the meantime the inmates were 
taken out as rapidly as possible, and though this was a 
hazardous and difficult task, the whole number, four hun- 
dred and eighty-eight, two-thirds women, were rescued 
uninjured except two persons, one Benjamin Burgess, the 
other Miss Walker, a seamstress, who were lost in the 
ffames. The scene after the fire was most distressing. The 
civilly disposed insane were put in the churches or wan- 
dered at random until conveyances were procured to take 
them away to various places. 

As soon as the trustees could make arrangements, the 
inmates were placed in the various charitable institutions 
and police stations of the city and the Central Asylum at 
Dayton. The probate judges of the different counties were 
notified to come and take their patients to their county 
poor-houses until provision could be made for them. 





VAAAJXAaa, 



Iuja^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 163 

Steps were taken immediately towards the rebuilding 
of the asylum. Governor Noyeswas notified and he called 
a meeting of the Senate and House Committees on Benev- 
olent Institutions and Finance. These committees met at 
Newburg on October 11, 1872. Rebuilding was con- 
sidered a necessity. Plans submitted by Dr. J. P. Grav, 
of Utica, with estimates at five hundred thousand dollars, 
were reported as soon as possible, approved bv the assem- 
bly, and five hundred and fifty thousand dollars appropri- 
ated for their execution. The work was pushed rapidly 
and finished in May of 1876, at a cost of five hundred 
and sixty-one thousand dollars. 

The first hospital established in Cleveland by the ad- 
herents of the Homoeopathic School of Medicine was in 
reality a private enterprise. In the year 1856 Dr. S. R. 
Beckwith received the appointment of surgeon to the Lake 
Shore & Michigan Southern railway and also to the 
Cleveland «& Columbus railway. Railroad surgerv thirtv 
years ago was a much more important work than it is at 
present, since accidents, as shown by reliable statistics, were 
twenty times as numerous. Surgeons had many miles of 
the road to look after, and patients from cities and towns 
along the line were brought to Cleveland that they might 
be under the supervision of the company's surgeon. A 
private house was rented on Lake street and used as a 
hospital for two years, with Dr. Bettely as house surgeon. 
This building was well adapted for hospital purposes and 
contained twelve beds. About this time Charity Hospital 
threw open her doors to homoeopathic physicians and sur- 
geons, and patients were taken there when they could not 



164 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

be well accommodated at hotels or private houses. With 
hospital accommodations assured, Dr. Beckwith discon- 
tinued the Lake Street Hospital. About the year 1866 
the advisability of establishing a Protestant hospital was 
discussed by man}- benevolent and liberal ladies of the 
city. Dr. D. H. Beckwith, H. Brockway and Mrs. S. F. 
Lester were appointed a committee to secure a desirable 
location. They reported in favor of purchasing for eight 
thousand dollars a lot on the lake shore, opposite Clinton 
Park, where was a commodious building well suited to the 
needs of a hospital. This purchase w^as made, and the 
ladies not only paid for it but also furnished the house 
through donations fi-eely made by a generous public. This 
was called the Wilson Street Hospital. The medical staff 
Avas selected from representative physicians of both schools 
of medicine. After two 3-ears of union management, some 
misunderstanding arose and arrangements were made by 
which the homoeopathic adherents disposed of their interest 
in the hospital and withdrew. In 1867 the facult}^ of the 
Homoeopathic College, in order to have surgical clinics and 
hospital instruction under their immediate control, pur- 
chased a large and elegant building belonging to Professor 
Humiston, located on Universit\^ street. After a few years 
of hospital work in this location, it was deemed best to 
secure a more central place, and a private house, known 
as the Perry property, was secured on Huron street. This 
institution was soon found unable to accommodate the 
large number of patients apph'ing for treatment, and in 
1879 the large and commodious hospital at 66 Huron 
street was erected. The new building is the most complete 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 165 

in its arrangements for warmth, light and ventilation 
that modern ingenuity can devise. It was built and fur- 
nished entirel}^ by private donations, and accommodates 
both charity and pay patients. 

The Inventor's Exhibition was held December, 1871, to 
January, 1872, for the purpose of furthering the interests 
of inventors by bringing their work before the eye of the 
public and b\^ giving concerted and intelligent action in 
the procuring of patents. The exhibition began on the 
twenty-seventh of December and was graced the first day 
by the visit of Grand Duke Alexis. It was held in the Cen- 
tral Rink, which was crowded with exhibits, and lasted for 
almost a month. At the close five directors were elected 
to take immediate steps towards the organization and 
incorporation of a permanent association. 

The prevalence of several kinds of disease in the old 
Sixth ward gave rise to a general petition to have the pest- 
house removed. But it was not until 1872 that the In- 
firmary farm was selected as the site, notwithstanding the 
remonstrances of the citizens of Brooklyn. The old pest- 
house was burned and the lot sold. 

One of the grandest charitable works undertaken by our 
people, and the most grandly carried out, was the aid 
offered to the sufferers of the Chicago fire. At a mass 
meeting in the Central Rink, October 9, 1871, a relief com- 
mittee was formed consisting of James Barnett, James 
Carson, Wrn. J. Akers, H. Chase, J. W. Fitch, Dr. E. Ster- 
ling, D. Price, W. H. Hay ward, J. P. Sherwood, E. N. 
Hammond, Charles Pettingill, A. W. Fairbanks, L. A. 
Pierce and R. M. N. Tavlor. In three davs thirteen car 



166 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

loads of provisions and clothing were collected and sent, 
one of the members accompanying and distributing the 
same. These were among the first contributions. The 
pressing needs of the destitute throughout several States, 
for various causes, led to a permanent organization for a 
winter's work, late in 1871 . Merchants, churches and civic 
societies made liberal donations, and transportation was 
furnished free. A most important adjunct was the organi- 
zation of ladies with headquarters at the Second Presby- 
terian church. 

The epizootic, wnth which nearly every horse in the city 
was afflicted, was the source of much inconvenience atid 
loss to business men, and also the cause of some merri- 
ment. The first appearance was on October 31, 1872, 
when three hundred horses were reported sick. It spread 
rapidlv, and the next day two street car companies sus- 
pended travel. The uext da\^ saw all the heavy draft 
horses and street car horses entirely laid up, and the streets 
filled with pedestrians. The docks and freight depots were 
piled with boxes to be delivered. Oxen and mules were 
obtained when possible, but it was a common sight to see 
large freight drays pulled by twenty or more men and 
labeled with the terse but significant word "Epizoot." 
The carriage traflfic was completely suspended save in sev- 
eral instances, where young men heroically surmounted 
the difficulties by taking their ladies in carriages hauled by 
mules, to hear Patti. The Woodland avenue cars were 
hauled by a "dummy." Other lines were idle. The per- 
manent loss was, however, small, as few horses died. 

This year, 1872, is remarkable for the number of large 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 167 

and important conventions and reunions held in our city. 
Beginning on May 7, 1872, and lasting for four days, were 
the reunions of the Army of the Potomac, the National 
Encampment, Grand Army of the Republic, and the Na- 
tional Reunion of the Grand Cavalry Corps. These 
gatherings brought together an immense number of ex- 
soldiers. Among the prominent men present were 
Generals Woodford, Hooker, Meade, Custer, Burnside, 
Wright, Robinson, Dennis and Sheridan. The meetings 
were held in Case Hall, where, on the first day. Mayor 
Pelton welcomed the veterans with a masterly address, 
and General Woodford delivered an oration. The last 
meeting was at a grand banquet given in the Central 
Rink. 

A direct outgrowth of the labor troubles, then so com- 
mon, was the Industrial Congress that assembled in Tem- 
perance Hall on Superior street, July 16, 1873. This, also, 
was National, representing all legitimate trades. It had 
at heart the best interests of the laboring class as repre- 
sented by the numerous organizations for mutual aid and 
protection, existing all over the country. The Congress 
lasted four days, and contained delegates from sixty-five 
different organizations from nearly every State. 

In the latter part of February of the following year, 
assembled in the same place a most remarkable body of 
men — the National Division of the Brotherhood of Loco- 
motive Engineers. It was just when transportation com- 
panies were beginning to experience the trouble that cul- 
minated later in riot and bloodshed. The meeting was 
large, containing delegates from one hundred and fifty- 



168 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

two divisions, but despite the fact that they were in ses- 
sion for three days, the energy of reporters failed to obtain 
for the public any knowledge of their business. 

Cleveland's beauty and readiness of access have always 
made it a favorite place for National gatherings. The 
Knights of Pythias' National Convention in August, 1877, 
brought immense numbers of that order, who remained in 
the city four days. The splendor of their parade, which 
has never been excelled, was greeted with great enthusi- 
asm. A prize drill was given at the Northern Ohio Fair 
grounds. 

Early maps located Cleveland "a little village about 
five miles from Newburg." In 1873 matters were quite 
otherwise. Newburg was then the village, without any ex- 
istence as a corporation. The pressing necessity of corpo- 
rate benefits, of improved schools, of police and fire pro- 
tection and water supply, led to a large and enthusiastic 
meeting August 4, 1873, at which the following resolu- 
tions were adopted : 

That the time has now come when the necessity and future welfare of 
the people imperatively demand the resultant benefits of a village or city 
corporation. 

That in the opinion of this meeting, the best means of attaining 
that end is by annexation of our territory to the city of Cleveland. 

A committee consisting of E. T. Hamilton, A. Topping 
and Joseph Turney, was appointed to confer with the 
Council and petition for the admission of Newburg as 
wards of the citv. The Council appointed John Hunting- 
ton, H. H. Thorpe and A. T. Van Tassel a committee to 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 169 

confer concerning the territory to be annexed. This they 
decided should be included within the city of Cleveland. 
The question of annexation was submitted to the voters 
of Newburg on the twenty-seventh of August, and car- 
ried by a majority of 293. The Council carried out the 
wishes of the people with but little opposition, and sup- 
plied the new wards, now known as the Twenty-sixth 
and Twenty-seventh, with fire and police protection. The 
annexation added twenty-five hundred acres to the area of 
the city and ten thousand souls to the population. 

The Cleveland Light Artillery was organized in 1873 b}- 
Captain Louis Smithnight. Its members were nearly all 
veterans, and the Light Artillery soon became known for 
its discipline, drill and general excellence. Their name is the 
same as that of the old Cleveland Light Artillery which 
was organized in 1846 from the gun squad of the Cleve- 
land Grays. They go into camp every year and are at 
any time ready to answer a call for duty. At the great 
Cincinnati riot of 1885 their services were offered and ac- 
cepted ; but soon after their arrival in that city the rioting 
ceased and the battery was not called upon to do any 
fighting. The battery has iDcen pronounced b\^ officers of 
the United States regular artillery to be the best equipped 
and drilled of any similar organization in the country. In 
the spring of 1886 the artillery of the State was organized 
into a regiment of which the Cleveland artillery is Battery 
A. Smithnight is colonel of this regiment, which is the 
only fully organized regiment of artillery in the National 
Guards in the United States. Their armory is on Cham- 
plain street near Seneca. 



170 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Great Crash — The Women's Crusades — Labor Outbreaks— A 
National S.engerfest— The Lease of the Present City Hall— 
The Euclid Avenue Opera House— Establishment of the City 
Hospital — The Harbor of Refuge — Explosion of a Powder 
Mill. 

THE history of Cleveland as a metropolis begins about 
the time, or just after, the great panic of 1873. In 
population perhaps she had not grown to metropolitan 
proportions, but in manufacture and commerce, as well 
as in importance in the business relations of Northern 
Ohio, she certainl}- had. The accumulation of large for- 
tunes in the city had brought a more polished and fashion- 
able element into her societ}^ introduced a taste for luxury 
previoush' unknown, and resulted in the expenditure of 
millions in building elegant residences and in adding mag- 
nificence to the city in many ways. Although the panic 
crushed these tendencies for a time, the fact that the basis 
of a large city and the bedrock of a metropolitan society 
had been laid, was proved by the rapid changes from town 
to citv wavs that went on notwithstanding the financial 
crash. The era of the laying of her foundation as a city was 
passed ; her institutions were firmly established ; she was 
no longer an experiment but a sure success ; and, although 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 171 

her growth would continue unabated, the fact that she 
was the most important cit\^ of Northern Ohio, and that 
she would become more and more so as time went on, was 
recognized and realized. In the past she had been known 
as an important town of energy, push and phenomenal 
growth; from thence she would be known as a great 
icity. 

The historical and disastrous panic of 1873, the causes 
of which are explained by many different theories that we 
shall not attempt to enumerate, embarrassed more or less 
seriously every business house in Cleveland, and forced 
many to the wall. Never in our history was business so 
completeU' prostrated nor hard times more keenly felt. 
But the admirable soundness and stabilit^^of our commer- 
cial and manufacturing enterprises was proven by the 
firmness with which the majority of our business men 
stood the tremendous shock of that terrible tidal-wave 
,of financial disaster, which, in many places, carried nearly 
,all before it to utter ruin. It is almost impossible to 
.ascertain the number of failures, assignments and bank- 
ruptcies, but they reached nearly two hundred. Real 
estate was affected more than any other branch of busi- 
ness, its values being most inflated and the speculation in 
it most extensive, unreasonable and factitious. Prices of 
lots were the highest ever known in our history, and the 
shrinkage, when the jDanic came, was correspondingly 
great. Imagination can scarcely compass the excitement 
and the huge plans for bringing all the adjacent territory 
about the city immediately into market and selling it by 
jots. The corporate limits of the city were to be extended 



172 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

several miles east, west and south. Cleveland was to 
spring at once into a metropolis that should rival the 
greatest cities East and West . Visions of immense fortunes 
filled the minds of every speculator, great and small. 
Large deals were accomplished with small capital by pur- 
chasing tracts of land on contract, surveying them into 
lots, and selling them to private parties on installments, 
the latter arranged to accommodate the speculator in mak- 
ing his payments. As rapidly as one tract was disposed 
of, another would be bought and sold in the same manner. 
When the blow fell it caught many who w^ere unable to 
pull through, and swept away all they had realized in 
years of great success. 

A number of firms availed themselves of the advantages 
of the loose bankrupt law, since repealed, to unjustly 
evade their liabilities, but most of them bravely stemmed 
the storm and saved their credit. Not a banking house in 
the city, we are proud to record, was forced to suspension. 
By courage, discretion and industry better times were 
gradually restored, but for several years business was in a 
verv depressed condition. Probably no city throughout 
the country, however, suffered less than Cleveland. 

The Women's Crusade against the saloons will always 
be remembered as a unique and impressive movement. 
It was carried on energetically by the women of Cleve- 
land with important and lasting results, and, though 
frequently attended by great opposition and uproar, was 
yet unmarked by the excesses and looser features that 
accompanied it in many other po'acs. The first public 
demonstration was on March 17, 1874-, when twentv-two 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 173 

Avomen, led b\' Mrs. W. A. Ingham, held a solemn prayer 
meeting in the front office of a Public Square saloon. For 
many weeks afterwards similar meetings were daily con- 
ducted. Those who took part in the work were organized 
into bands and detailed to particular districts of the city. 
Occasionally the entire force would unite for a special 
move, and then could be seen the spectacle of five hundred 
women in long procession advancing upon some peculiarl}^ 
obnoxious saloon. The great hotels, the prominent 
saloons and ever\' liquor-selling house in the city received 
their visits. The\' were at times met b\^ surging crowds, 
where the din of jeers and shouts drowned their pra^^ers 
and songs. Dangers of rioting led to the increasing of the 
police force, and the military were ordered to be ready to 
move if necessary. But only one serious disturbance arose, 
and a squad of police was sufficient to scatter the mob. 
The effect of these operations was to arouse the whole 
city. Mass meetings were held. Organized efforts to 
enforce the liquor laws resulted in nine hundred indict- 
ments under the Adair law. A number of saloonkeepers 
were induced to abandon their business and aid the 
crusaders. But these results were brief It was in the 
establishment of the Women's Christian League that the 
"Women's War" found its lasting results. The league 
was organized in March with the following officers : Miss 
Sarah E. Fritch, president; Mrs. W.A.Ingham, secretarial 
Mrs. Rev. S. W. Duncan, treasurer. It soon established 
the "Friendly Inns, "designing them as permanent institu- 
tions to supply temperance restaurants, lodging, places 
and chapels, in addition to headquarters for their district 



174 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

work. The first inn established was the River Street Inn, 
which occupied the room previously held by a saloon. St. 
Clair Street Inn and Central Place Inn were opened during 
the same year. Lately the restaurant feature of these inns 
has been abandoned, so large is the number of temperance 
coffee houses which have sprung up since they were begun. 
A new building is at present in process of erection for the 
Central Place Friendly Inn, fifty thousand dollars having 
been subscribed for the building and lot. The Pearl Street 
Inn, on the West Side, was established in 1876 by a sepa- 
rate organization, the West Side Friendly Inn Association, 
and was discontinued in 1883. Other institutions of the 
league are the "Open Door," establislied in 1877, to afford 
to friendless, intemperate and fallen w^omen every class of 
need ; the Woodland Avenue Readmg Room, the Willson 
Avenue Reading Room and the Detroit Street Temperance 
Chapel. The league was incorporated under the laws of 
the State in 1880, and in 1883 its name was changed by 
special order of court to the Women's Christian Temper- 
ance Union. In 1884 the Cleveland Union withdrew from 
its connection with the National Women's Christian Tem- 
perance Union on account of the enlisting of the latter in 
partisan politics, and has since that time been an inde- 
pendent organization. Its work is rapidly growing, and 
both in the forming of public sentiment and the organizing 
of practical benevolence, its efforts are marked by vigor and 
success. Among those whose generosity has given con- 
stant aid to the Union during its corporate existence 
should.be mentioned the names of two of Cleveland's hon- 
ored citizens, whose memory will live in the history of 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 175 

every good work — Mr. Joseph Perkins and Captain Alva 
Bradley, trustees of the Union to the time of their death.* 
The year of the financial crash was one of great depres- 
sion and suffering among the laboring class of Cleveland. 
This suffering continued into the next year and caused 
several outbreaks of considerable magnitude. Strikes 
within the last fifteen or twenty years have been of 
almost monthly occurrence in the cit3% and to make even 
a bare statement of them would require a separate vol- 
ume. We can, therefore, only record a few of the most 
notable from time to time. April 20, 1874, the sailors 
struck for an advance of fifty cents on the one dollar and 
a half per day they were then receiving. As the city was 
full of unemployed men, their demand was not acceded to. 
The next morning over two hundred strikers formed in 
line and started towards the vessels moored in the old 
river bed, compelling all hands to fall in line. In attempt- 
ing to board some of the crafts the crowd was fired upon 
and several killed. Nothing further was done of a violent 
nature, and the arrest of thirteen of the ring-leaders 
quelled the disturbance. The abundance of idle men in 
the city emboldened large operators to reduce the scale of 
wages. Just two weeks after the sailors' strike a cut in 
wages led to the strike of over four hundred coal heavers, 

* The officers of the Union for the year 1887 are : Mrs. Anna E. Prather, 
president ; Miss F. Jennie Duty, corresponding secretary ; Miss Mary E. 
Ingersoll, Mrs. E. J. Phinney, corresponding secretaries, Mrs. V. W. 
Orton, treasurer. Trustees. J. D. Rockefeller, E. C. Pope, General E. S. 
Meyer, Captain Thomas Wilson, R. K. Hawley; Douglas Perkins, 
treasurer. 



176 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

who soon induced an equal number of lumbermen to 
abandon work. These men were orderly in their conduct, 
and their sensible and dispassionate discussion of their 
grievances elicited the profound sympathy of the people 
and resulted in a restoration of the former wages. So 
great was the distress among the laboring people gener- 
ally, and so rife was the labor agitation of that time, 
that even sewer diggers struck and paraded through the 
city handling roughly contractors and refractory laborers. 
The nineteenth Saengerfest of the North American 
Saengerfest Society, held in Cleveland from June 22 to 29, 
1874-, was of much more than ordinary importance. It 
was, as its name indicates, a National affair, and was 
attended by about fift}- of the most prominent "bands" 
of the West, in all about fifteen hundred singers. The Fest 
is biennial and the Cleveland societies made elaborate 
preparations to outdo former attempts. A stock com- 
paii}^ was formed and sixty thousand dollars raised by 
the sale of stock. A large temporary building, 220x152, 
was erected on Euclid, between Case and Sterling avenues, 
at a cost of twenty-one thousand dollars. The seating 
capacity of the auditorium was nine thousand, and of 
the stage one thousand five hundred. The great 
Prussian prinm-donna, Madame Lucca, sang at three 
of the concerts, and the Philharmonic Orchestra, of 
New York, was secured for the whole week. Great pub- 
lic interest was manifested in the enterprise, and half 
fare on all railroads leading to the city made a verv 
large attendance. The decorations were elaborate, and 
everv street in the citv was hung with evero^reen and 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 177 

the flags of the United States and Germany. GovernOj. 
Allen and Lieutenant-Governor Hart opened the Fest, and 
Dr. G. C. E. Weber pronounced in German a eulogy on 
music. The music of the reception concert was under Pro- 
fessor Heydler's direction, and the other concerts were 
directed by Carl Bergman. The whole week was imique 
in Cleveland's history and won for her citizens an enviable 
reputation for hospitalit}'- and musical appreciation. 

In February, 1875, the City Council ratified a contract 
for the lease of the then magnificent Case building, on 
Superior street, to be used for a City Hall. The period of 
the lease extends from the first of March, 1875, to the 
first of April, 1900, at the annual rental of thirty-six 
thousand dollars. For several years the need of a commo- 
dious City Hall that should be worthj^ the dignity and 
size of the city had been sorely felt, and was the fertile par- 
ent of committee after committee and report upon report. 
One spasmodic attempt had been made four or five j^ears 
before, when the Council offered a premium of one thousand 
dollars for the best plan of a City Hall. A dozen plans 
ensued; one was chosen and the city's bursary weakened 
a thousand dollars, without, however, bringing the hall. 
Other great municipal enterprises— the Water Works tunnel, 
the Viaduct, and Lake Side Park — employed the public 
mind and money. Meanwhile the city oflSces had spread 
about wherever an opening could be found. On the south 
side of the Square a so-called "City Hall" contained a 
dingy room where the Council met, and other rooms for 
the Mayor, Board of Improvements, Assessing Boards, 
City Clerk, City Auditor and Clerk of the Board of Health. 



178 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

The Infirmar}^ offices were a few rods up the street ; the 
Water Works department in the Gushing Block; the Board 
of Education with their officers on Prospect street; the 
City Sohcitor on Superior street ; City Treasurer on Bank 
street ; Street Commissioner on Seneca Street hill ; Board 
of Police in Central Station building; Fire Commissioners 
in Engine House No. 1 ; while the Infirmary Directors, 
Cemetery Trustees and Park Commissioners wandered 
about without a fixed abiding-place. But now for the 
first time since Cleveland became a city, the public offices 
gathered under one roof. The terms of the lease are so 
favorable to the city that the rental received for the large 
storerooms on the first floor and the suites of rooms not 
used by the city, is large enough to pay the cit3''s rental. 
But notwithstanding these favorable terms, Cleveland 
badly needs a better and more substantial building for her 
municipal officers. 

While Cleveland was making rapid advances in material 
progress, she fell behind her sister cities m procuring a 
place for popular amusement that should be adapted in 
size and architecture and appointments to the demands of 
a great city. The chief honor of supplying this deficiency 
is due to Mr. John A. Ellsler, who projected the enterprise 
of the Euclid Avenue Opera House, collected the subscrip- 
tions and carried on the work in the face of great obstacles. 
The building when completed was acknowledged to be one 
of the finest and best appointed places of amusement in 
the United States. It measures one hundred feet front on 
Sheriff street and one hundred and fifty feet deep, and has 
0^ total seating capacity of over sixteen hundred, about 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 179 

double that of the old opera house. The beauty of the inte- 
rior of the edifice, the elaborate proscenium, the graceful 
sweep of the galleries, the glitter of the chandeliers and the 
glow of the richly wrought ceiling above, formed a picture 
that enraptured the eyes of the Cleveland audience that 
assembled on the evening of its opening to the public, Sep- 
tember 6, 1875. But theatres must be classed among the 
luxuries, and the financial depressions that settled so 
roughly on every industrj^ fell with double force on the 
stockholders of this beautiful structure. It was sold at a 
great sacrifice to meet the debts incurred in its erection, 
but still retains its position as a really noble temple of 
art. 

The Cleveland City Hospital was originally established 
in a small frame building on Wilson street, but under the 
pressing need of larger accommodations its managers 
secured, in the fall of 1875, the lease for twenty years from 
the government of the old Marine Hospital, at the foot of 
Erie street. This building, besides being large and con- 
venient, occupies a site most favorable for hospital pur- 
poses, and commands a beautiful view of the lake scenery, 
while its interior arrangements afford the best facilities for 
the comfort and care of patients. There are rooms on the 
second and third floors for pay patients, and other wards 
are set apart for charity patients. Though the corporate 
name might imply that the hospital receives aid or sup- 
port from the city, such is not the case, nor does it receive 
any subsidy from the government. The expenses are de- 
frayed wholly by voluntary contributions and pay patients, 
and by a payment from the government of sixty-four cents 



180 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

per da\'' for each sailor cared for, a sum, however, which is 
bareh' adequate to cover the actual expenditures for him. 
The project of securing a commodious harbor of refuge 
at Cleveland had often been discussed in meetings of the 
Board of Trade and the Cit}^ Council, but the first effective 
step was taken in 1870, when resolutions of the Common 
Council and petitions of the citizens were submitted to 
Congress bv Hon. W. H. Upson, representative from the 
Cleveland district. Congress thereupon appropriated 
three thousand dollars for a preliminary survey. The 
Board of Engineers, to whom the matter was submitted, 
reported that the cost of the proposed harbor of refuge 
would amount to the enormous sum of four million 
dollars, at which Congress peremptoriU^ refused further 
appropriations. Nothing more was done until 1873, 
when Hon. R. C. Parsons, then the Cleveland member of 
the House of Representatives, presented a memorial from 
the Board of Trade, and spoke in its favor, showing how 
necessary was the work, and also that its cost would be 
far less than the amount estimated by the Board of En- 
Sfineers. Consrress then agreed to another survev, which 
was made in 1874 b}^ Colonel Blunt, of the United States 
Engineers' Corps. He reported two plans, one providing 
for an anchorage of about thirty acres at a cost of five 
hundred thousand dollars, the other of ninety acres at a 
cost of twelve hundred thousand dollars. In the following 
spring an appropriation of fift}^ thousand dollars was 
made to begin the work, and the size and form were re- 
ferred to a corps of government engineers. These met in 
Cleveland in April and June, and reported in favor of the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 181 

construction of a harbor of two hundred acres at an esti- 
mated cost of eighteen hundred thousand dollars. The 
breakwater as thus recommended was begun in the fall of 
1875 and completed in 1884. It begins at a point seven 
hundred feet west of the upper end of the old river bed, 
and extends in a direction about due north a distance of 
3,130 feet, to a depth of 28 feet, where the angle is turned 
and it runs for 4<,030 feet nearly parallel to the shore, with 
a spur one hundred feet long on the north side of the lake 
arm and two hundred feet from its eastern end. It was 
proposed to protect the entrance to the harbor on the east 
side by extending the east pier at the mouth of the river 
fourteen hundred feet, but in May, 1884, the engineer in 
charge recommended that this plan be changed and that 
another arm of breakwater be built to the eastward, 
leaving an opening opposite the piers for an entrance. 
This project being referred to a Board of Engineers, which 
met in September of the same year, was approved in an 
amended form, and on August 5, 1886, an act of Congress 
made appropriations for its execution. It provides that the 
new breakwater, beginning at a point on the prolongation 
of the west breakwater and 500 feet from it, shall extend 
eastward about 1200 feet, then incline towards the shore 
and extend 2,400 feet to a point 2,200 feet from the shore, 
at the foot of Wood street, and leaving an entrance 1,200 
feet wide between the eastern end and the curve of fourteen 
feet depth of water. The foundation for the 1,200 feet to 
the point of incline is now completed, and it is expected 
that the superstructure for the same will be completed by 
June, 1888. The total amount expended for both the east 



182 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

and west breakwater up to June 30, 1887, was $809,- 
206.26, and the total amount appropriated by Congress 
for the work is $993,750. 

On the afternoon of May 16 the whole city was shaken 
up by a terrible explosion — nobody could tell just what. 
Doors were unhinged or jammed shut, window lights 
shivered into atoms, and many of the most expensive plate 
fronts in the city totally destroyed. After the people had 
recovered their senses, it was discovered that the Austin 
Powder Mills, near five-mile lock, had blown up. Of the 
fifty-seven buildings belonging to the company, over half 
were blown to atoms. Three men were killed and the loss 
of property was almost one hundred thousand dollars. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 183 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Centennial Celebration — Incorporation of Riverside Cemetery— 
A Police Life and Health Fund— The Celebrated Invention 
OF Charles F. Brush — Establishment in Cleveland of the 
Brush Electric Light Company— The Railroad Strike of 1877 
—The Cleveland Gatling Gun Battery and the First Cavalry 
Troop. 

THE second century of American Independence found a 
glorious greeting in the Forest Cit\', though it made 
its debut on a rainy and lowering day. During the entire 
night of July 3, the din of horns, pistols, guns and fire- 
crackers proclaimed its coming. At the earliest break of 
day a great crowd assembled around the new flag-staff on 
the Public Square, to witness its formal delivery by the 
committee having its erection in charge, into the city's 
hands through Mayor Payne, its representative. This 
staff built by private contributions, of the best Bessemer 
steel, is the only permanent memento of the grand celebra- 
tion of that day. It stands on the spot where the old 
wooden flag-staff, erected in 1860, and after standing for 
fifteen 3'ears, had gone to its fall, honored but dry-rotted, 
before a rattling gale of wind. At eight o'clock the stir- 
ring sounds of "America" arose from the voices of three 
thousand children. After an interval of heavy raining, the 



184 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

great procession of military coinjianies, temperance and 
benevolent societies, bands and decorated wagons marched 
through the streets. Then followed the oration of the day 
by Hon. S. 0. Griswold, in words full of power and elo- 
quence. A sailing regatta, a naval combat, a steam 
regatta, occupied the afternoon, while the evening beheld 
such a blaze of fireworks as occurs but once in a century. 
Public and private buildings profusely decorated with 
bunting and flags, conspired throughout the day with the 
booming of cannon to thrill and excite the hearts of thou- 
sands of assembled patriots. 

Riverside Cemetery, located at the junction of Colum- 
bus street and Scranton avenue, was laid out in 1876 
under the control of the Riverside Cemetery Association. 
It embraces over one hundred acres of land, magnificent 
in its wealth of natural beauty, with ravines, hills, lakes 
and lawns, all bordering upon the Cuyahoga river. 
These original advantages, combined with the beauties of 
extensive and skillful ornamentation, make it equal to any 
of Cleveland's cemeteries. The "Grand Avenue, 'Hhe receiv- 
ing tomb and the canopy monument are features of ele- 
gance and beauty. The first president of the association 
was Mr. Josiah Barber, and the executive committee, 
Messrs. J. M. Curtiss, S. W. Sessions, Thomas Dixon and 
George H. Foster. 

In 1876, by act of the Legislature, a "Police Life and Health 
Fund" was established, to be secured from different sources, 
including all unclaimed money and the proceeds arising 
from the sale of unclaimed property. From this fund, as 
provided by amendment of 1881, a pension of five hun- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 185 

dred dollars annually is paid to any member of the police 
force who has become disabled while in the active per- 
formance of his duty, or who has performed faithful ser- 
vice for fifteen consecutive years. In case of the death of 
one who is on the pension roll or who has been fatally 
injured while on duty, his widow or minor children or 
persons dependent upon him receive five hundred dollars. 
Members are placed on the pension roll by order of the 
Board of Police Commissioners, under certificate from the 
health officer or police surgeon, and remain subject to the 
orders of the board. The fund accrued at ]jresent amounts 
to about thirty-three thousand dollars. 

The most wonderful of modern inventions was the work 
of a Cleveland man, Mr. C. F. Brush, who perfected the 
Brush electric light, solving at once the following four-fold 
problem that had baflHed scientists for years: "First, to pro- 
vide an efficient and economical means of converting me- 
chanical power into electric energy ; second, to devisea gen- 
erator able to evolve an electric current capable of sub- 
division, to supply a series of lamps in one circuit ; third, 
to invent a self-regulating lamp adapted to such an elec- 
tric circuit, and so constructed that any accidental dis- 
turbance of it, or its extinction, would have no effect upon 
the other lamps in the same circuit, the lamp to be at the 
same time easy to keep in order, durable and economical in 
power; and fourth, to discover an automatic method of 
regulating the "supply of electricity so that the current 
would always be exactly equal to the varying require- 
ments of the circuit." 

The first two of these problems were solved by the Brush 



186 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

dynamo, invented in 1876. The only machine of any 
importance up to that time was the gramme dynamo, and 
that w^as by no means a commercial success, as it could 
only furnish current for a few lamps and coidd not sustain 
them with steadiness. The machine which conquered 
these difficulties has its chief peculiarities in the arrange- 
ment of field magnets, the armature and commutator- 
The armature is annular and carries eight bobbins 
arranged in pairs so as to be brought most fully into the 
field of magnetic influence. These pairs are so arranged 
as to be thrown successively out of the circuit precisely 
at that point where they cease to contribute to the force 
of current, but would rather afford an avenue of esca|De. 
The largest sized dynamo generates a current strong 
enough to sustain sixty-five lamps of two thousand candle 
power each. 

The other two jjroblems Mr. Brush solved with ec|ual 
readiness in the arc lamp. A great difficulty, almost 
insurmountable, was regulating the distance of the car- 
bons. Clock work and gravity apjjaratus had ])roved 
ineffectual and rendered electric light commercially useless. 
Mr. Brush made the current, acting through a magnet 
upon a clamp which holds the carbon, regulate this dis- 
tance. To provide for the varying current, shunting heli- 
ces of high resistance carrying currents in opposite direc- 
tions, were inserted and serve as a governor upon the cur- 
rent ; for if a stronger current go through the main wires, 
the adverse induced currents grow stronger and tend to 
weaken the main currents. The solution of the problem of 
electric lighting has led to the establishment of one of our 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 187 

most important manufactories. The success of this enter- 
prise is wonderful, the light having been already introduced 
into India, Australia. Egypt, South America, Africa, China 
and in every European country. In 1878 sales amounted to 
fifty thousand dollars, but five years after that to two mil- 
lion dollars. The works are the largest of the kind in the 
world, and the capital invested in the electrical business 
and kindred enterprises, the outgrowth of the Brush light, 
amounts to over twenty-five million dollars. 

The great railroad strike of July, 1877, reached Cleve- 
land on the twenty-second of that month, a few days after 
its most violent outbreak at Pittsburgh. Five hundred 
men employed on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 
railway left their work and formulated demands, which 
were presented to the general superintendent of the road. 
From the first they gained entire control of the road, and 
no trains or engines except the mail trains were permitted 
to move. Other trunk lines were idle because of strikes in 
other places, and the blockading of all transportation 
facilities brought to a standstill many of the principal in- 
dustries of the city. Thousands of men were thrown out, 
of employment, and it seemed that a crisis involving 
enormous destruction of property might at cmy moment 
burst forth, as it had done in Pittsburgh. The strikers 
themselves, though making their demands vigorously and 
massing their numbers at different times and places, con- 
ducted their deliberations peaceably and gave assur- 
ance of their purpose to refrain from violence. But the 
danger was found in the scurvy mob of law-breakers, 
thieves and thugs, who saw an opportunity in case of out- 



188 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

break for pillage and plunder. Great credit is due to the 
prompt and discreet action of Mayor Rose and the leading- 
citizens, who, without any public parade that might have 
stirred upthefearof danger when none was imminent, sum- 
moned together and stationed bodies of police, militia, 
artillery and organized veterans in such shape that the 
first sj^mptom of mob or riot could have been completely 
overpowered. In private conferences with committees 
from the strikers, and in a public proclamation to the 
citizens of Cleveland, Mayor Rose, while allowing the 
right of workmen to strike, warned them against intimi- 
dating others who were anxious to work. The strike on 
the Lake Shore road lasted two weeks, when the men were 
met by the general manager of the road, and, though not 
securing the main object of the strike, namely, a return to 
the wages paid before a recent reduction, 3^et being granted 
several matters of hardly inferior importance, the}^ agreed 
to return to work. Thus Cleveland, owing to the con- 
servatism of the striking workmen themselves and to the 
discretion and firmness of her mayor, escaped almost 
entirely the disturbances which had resulted so disas- 
trously to life and property in other cities, while the just- 
ness of the demands of the laborers gained the sympath}^ 
and assistance of the mass of her citizens. 

The Cleveland Gatling Gun Battery was organized by a 
citizens' committee, June 26, 1878, and grew <jut of £i sense 
of needed security against a repetition of strikes and riots 
like those of the previous year. W. F. Goodspeed was 
chosen captain and Frank Wilson first lieutenant. An old 
church building at the corner of Prospect and Perry streets 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 189 

served for an armory until the erection of the present edi- 
fice on Sibley street. The company numbered twenty-five 
men. In 1881 it was reorganized and incorporated and the 
membership increased to fift3^ The Battery is an inde- 
pendent organization, subject to the orders of the mayor, 
and cannot be called outside of the city. They own the 
armor}- and grounds and their equipment, including two 
Gatling guns, the whole valued at twenty-eight thousand 
dollars. The present oflicers are: L. C. Hanna, captain; 
John H. Kirkwood, first lieutenant; G. S. Russell, second 
lieutenant. 

The First Cleveland Troop, the only cavalry company 
of Cleveland, completed its organization October 10, 
1877, with W. H. Harris, captain ; E. S. Meyer, first lieuten- 
ant; G. A. Garrettson, second lieutenant; Charles D. Gay- 
lord, first sergeant; and Frank Wells, surgeon. Tempo- 
rary quarters were found in Weisgerber's Hall, until Decem- 
ber, 1878, when their armory- on Euclid avenue, between 
Sterling and Case avenues, was completed. This armor^'^, 
having no riding school in connection, was abandoned in 
1884 and the present commodious structure on Willson 
avenue was erected. Their membership has varied from 
fifty to seventy, all thoroughh^ equipped and ready to 
take the field at an hour's notice. They are subject to the 
call of the State. The officers at present are: George A. 
Garrettson, captain; H. E. Meyers, first lieutenant; H. F. 
Baxter, vSecond lieutenant; H. C. Rouse, first sergeant; W. 
C. Hayes, quartermaster sergeant. 



190 HISTORY OF CLEVi:i.AND. 



CHAPTER XX. 

A Grand Work of Charity — Completion of the Superior Street 
Viaduct — Donation to the City of Wade Park by J. H. Wade 
—Funeral of President Garfield. 

CLEVELAND has always been preeminent in her chari- 
ties. Her response to Chicago's cry was prompt and 
generous, as also to the wail of distress that arose from 
the South in 1878. On the twenty-fourth of August amass 
meeting was held in the Tabernacle and a relief committee 
of seven, with J. H. Wade as chairman, appointed. That 
this committee did efficient work is seen at a glance. The 
amount collected to August 27, $1,882.23; to August 30, 
$2,464; to September 2, $3,475; to September 7, $5,067; 
to September 14, $7,274.58; to September 21, $8,959; 
to September 27, $9,713; to October 12, $11,165. The 
city for a time gave itself up entirely to money-making 
forthebenefit of the sufferers. Balls, base ball, concerts, and 
everv description of entertainment aimed at the purse, 
contributed to the fund which finally in less than a month 
swelled to over twelve thousand dollars. 
On December 27, 1878, the citizens turned out en masse 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 19i 

to celebrate the completion of the great stone Viaduct.* 
Their enthusiasm was amply justified by the magnitude 
and practical worth of the structure. By their authority 
had been built this bridge 3,211 feet long, and 42 wide, 
containing 1,994,355 cubic feet of masonr}^ 12,500 tons 
of iron, and costing $2, 170,000. They felt a just pride in the 
mechanical skill of their fellow-citizens, and that they were 
amph' remunerated for the enormous expense by exemption 
from the dangers and dela^vs incident to the old method of 
transit. The idea of a high level bridge between the two 
cities had "lain fallow," as it were, for thirty-five years, 
until it became the absorbing thought of Mayor Buhrer's 
administration in 1870. His suggestion of it in that year 
was the first of a series of tardy steps in municipal legisla- 
tion. In his next annual message attention was again called 
to the matter. In view of these suggestions a resolution 
was passed in Council providing for a committee of five to 
report on the plan of a high level bridge. The favorable 
report of this committee was adopted. By this time con- 
siderable opposition had developed to a high level bridge, 
and John Huntington introduced as a compromise a reso- 
lution to appoint a committee which was to present plans 
and estimates for a bridge at the foot of Superior, for the 
extension of Detroit and Washington to Superior, for the 
removal of canal locks and other obstructions, and the 
lowering of railroads. This resolution was adopted and 
was the basis of all future municipal legislation on this 
subject. The committee appointed under it reported fav- 

* The meeting was very large and enthusiastic, Mayor Rose delivering 
the dedicatory address. 



192 ; HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

orably, Engineer Strong making the estimate $759,829. 
The Council had now gone as far as it could without 
authority from the State. In 1871 a bill providing for the 
erection of a viaduct had been introduced, but failed to 
pass. A second bill, the following year, was passed, and 
it provided for the issue of $1,100,000 coupon interest- 
bearing bonds, the money from the sale of which was to 
pay for the work proposed in the Huntington compromise. 
After these preliminaries the w^ay w'as open for active 
steps. The Council passed a resolution to submit the mat- 
ter to the qualified electors. This resulted in a majority 
of 5,451 in favor of the proposed work. The plan seemed 
hastening to a speedy consummation ; the contract for 
the West Side masonrj^ was even let. But the work made 
little progress for the next two years save in obtaining the 
right of wa3% owing to a temporar^^ injunction issued by 
Judge McClure, of Akron. Though he gave his decision in 
favor of the city in 1873, little was done but the reletting 
of the contract. This was in all a very profitable delay ; 
for besides the $100,000 spent in engineering, saved in the 
new^ contracts, it was now considered advisable to widen 
the Viaduct fourteen feet and raise it sixteen, and to have the 
eastern terminus on Water street, leaving Superior unoccu- 
pied. This change added $463,000 to ])revious estimates 
and a re-estimate by Morse, then citv engineer, made the 
whole cost $2,700,000. There was by this time abundant 
evidence that the authorized issue of bonds would be 
too small. To supply this deficit, a sui)plementary act was 
passed in April of 1876, fixing the maximum issue of 
bonds at $2,700,000, not less than $250,000 of which wr.r. 



■^\ 



^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 193 

to be used in lowering the railroads. But thevse bonds 
could not be issued until two questions were decided: 
whether toll was to be collected and whether the issue of 
bonds would be authorized by the voters. A special elec- 
tion, May 4, 1876, decided both of these questions in the 
affirmative; for toll by a majority of 2,626, for bonds 
3,598. But that question of toll was a vexed one over 
which councilmen exhausted their eloquence, and which the 
people decided contrary to their after judgment. When 
once decided in accordance wnth the statutes, there was 
no escape from the execution of the law — although the City 
Solicitor was appointed a committee to find a flaw in the 
law — save the abrogation of the law. This was done by 
the assembly, and so the Viaduct was carried on to com- 
pletion without an}' other serious delaj'. The Viaduct 
was turned over to the city authorities December 2.7, 1878, 
having been four years and a half in construction and cost- 
ing, as previously stated, $2,170,000. 

The chapter of disasters for the year 1880 was large. 
The region of Kingsbury Run has always been subject to 
fire. In the latter part of February the whole region was 
ablaze from floating oil. On the sixth of the following 
May the Worthington Block, on the comer of St. Clair 
and Ontario, burned to the ground. For a time it seemed 
impossible for the Fire Department to confine the fire to 
this one building. It was occupied by the Telegraph Sup- 
ply Company and several printing and electrotyping 
establishments, all of which were a total loss, amounting 
to one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The 
Cooperative Stove Company on the Viaduct, together 



194 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

with four other buildings, was burned in December, the 
total loss amounting to about eighty thousand dollars. 
Four fires have occurred on this same site. 

The beauty of our city has always been d matter of pride 
to her citizens. Among the most generous and public- 
spirited, J. H. Wade stands prominent. His munificent 
offer was as much a surprise as a gratification to the 
Council, as they read his proposition to donate to the city 
over a hundred acres, near the city limits, fronting on 
Euclid avenue. The first proposition was made on June 
21, 1881. The conditions of the gift w^ere the expenditure 
of from one hundred thousand to one hundred and seventy- 
five thousand dollars on improvements within three years, 
naming it Wade Park, reserving eight acres for a building 
site, and other minor details. The City Solicitor w^as 
appointed to obtain the conditions and report. An ordi- 
nance accepting the gift and appropriating the necessary 
amount from the Sinking Fund passed to its second read- 
ing, but seems to have gone no farther. 

In September of 1882 Mr. Wade made another proposi- 
tion increasing the size of the park five acres and reducing^ 
the amount to be expended on improvements to seventy- 
five thousand dollars, also reserving but three acres for 
the building site. On September 11 the new proposition 
was unanimously accepted, and the City Solicitor procured 
the deed. The Council accepted, the deed and the park 
passed into the hands of the city. On the suggestion of 
the Park Commissioners the following year, an assessment 
of half a mill on the dollar w^as made for park improve- 
ments. With a portion of this money Wade Park was; 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 195 

laid out and bids fair to be the finest park in the city. As 
many effects in landscajje gardening are only obtained 
with time, we need not be impatient of results. 

The fatal news, daily hoped against but daily dreaded, 
flashed across the land on the night of September 19, 1881, 
that the beloved and honored President, James A. Garfield, 
after eighty anxious da\\s of prolonged and wasting pain, 
after an heroic endurance that marked a truly noble life, 
had at last yielded up his great soul to the inscrutable 
Maker of all, the Nation's second martyr to the assassin's 
terrible bullet. Hisdeath, awful in the united grief of fifty 
millions of people, was peculiarly heartfelt to the people of 
the Western Reserve, and of Cleveland, its metropolis. 
Here was the place of his birth ; here had transpired the 
scenes of his rising fame ; here were his personal friends 
and associates, who had watched his career and known 
his conflicts from the first ; here were developed the insti- 
tutions, the sentiments, which found in him their crown 
and glory; here was his home. Stricken down within 
seven months after the brilliant scene of his inauguration 
as the President of a great and free Republic, his loss was 
inexpressibly sad to those who had known him so inti- 
mately in his honored career. 

Here in Cleveland was plainly the fitting place to receive 
the last of his mortal parts ; and where could a spot more 
appropriately be chosen than that amidst the beautiful 
and majestic scenery of Lake View Cemetery, where he 
had expressed a desire to be laid to rest? A tender of 
burial ground being made to Mrs. Garfield and gratefully- 
accepted, there fell upon the people of Cleveland the duty 



196 HISTORY OF CLEVELAxXD. 

of honorably receiving the funeral, cortege and conducting 
the body to its last resting place. A citizens' meeting was 
held in the Tabernacle, the necessafy committees appointed, 
and the entire city became busy in preparing for the 
mournful ceremony. During night and day an army of 
workmen were constructing in the centre of the Square at 
the intersection of Superior and Ontario streets, the great 
pavilion that should cover the catafalque on which the 
remains of the President should lie in state. When com- 
pleted, this was pronounced by many of the noted visitors 
to be the finest temporary structure of the kind ever 
erected. It measured forty feet square at the base; the 
four fronts were spanned by arches thirty-six feet high and 
twenty -four feet wide at the base. The building was 
seventy-two feet high to the apex of the roof, on which 
was a beautiful gilt sphere supporting the figure of an 
angel twenty-four feet high. The columns, ornamented 
by shields of beautiful design, were shrouded by unfurled 
flags; and elevated platforms projecting from the angles 
of the base, were occupied by uniformed guards. Two 
car-loads of rare plants, choice flowers and exquisite floral 
designs added their appropriate beauties. 

On Saturday afternoon, September 25, the funeral train 
reached the Euclid Avenue station on the Cleveland & 
Pittsburgh road, and from there the cofiin was conveyed 
to the catafalque. Here for two days the body rested in 
state, while sombre military guards paced before it and 
two hundred thousand people in almost endless ranks 
passed by it to get. if only they might, a glimpse at the 
portrait of the martyr, which hung above, for the closed 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 197 

coffin-lid, in melancholy sternness, refused a sight of the 
precious features it enclosed. How overpowering the 
scene was can never be felt except by the many thousands 
w.ho, on this day, repeated the same sad offerings that six- 
teen years before they had laid on a like occasion and at 
this same spot before the earthly cerement of another mar- 
tyred President. How similar were the two occasions^ 
and how was the grief of the present doubled b}^ the 
memory of the former! Over the same route had come 
the inanimate dust of Lincoln, and over the same spot 
eighty thousand people, their hearts bursting with horror 
and indignation, had bowed before the noble victim, the 
martyr of the Republic. Yet there was a striking differ- 
ence between the two occasions. It was felt that Abra- 
ham Lincoln had lived to see his great mission accom- 
plished. The work of his hand had freed the slave and 
brought the Union safel}^ through the struggle of death. 
His summons from duty had come after his life had blos- 
somed into fruition . But sadly otherwise was it with James 
A. Garfield. Though he had done much both in war and 
peace, yet his e^^es had only just beheld his grandest vista 
of opportunit^^ A work, glorious if successful, he had set 
before himself— no less than the firm cementing of the bonds 
of National union and the healing of the wounds of war. 
He seemed to hosts of patriots to be the man thoroughly 
prepared and almost miraculously called for such a work. 
The sentiments that came from his lips were those which 
inspired faith and fraternal feeling. " We should do nothing 
inconsistent with the spirit and genius of our institutions. 
We should do nothingfor revenge, but everything for secur- 



198 HISTORY OF CI.EVELAND. 

itj; nothing tor the past, everything for the presentand 
future."' That such a man should be so brutally slaugh- 
tered inthe very unfolding of his powers, seemed the essence 
of affliction. To these causes of universal grief that 
marked the funerals of both Lincoln and Garfield, was 
added on this occasion that sense of a personal, almost a 
family loss, that made the grief especially keen here at his 
home, where the patriot and statesman was the neighbor 
and friend. 

The final funeral services took place on Monday, Sep- 
tember 26. It was estimated that one hundred thousand 
visitors were in the city, and that two hundred and fifty 
thousand people crowded the streets. The greatest men 
of the Nation in every sphere of life were there on that 
day, men whose faces were familiar even in the farthest 
limits of the country— justices of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, members of the President's Cabinet, gov- 
ernors of States, members of the Senate and House of Rep- 
resentatives, chiefs of the Army and Navy, classmates of 
the President, mayors of cities, councilmen and aldermen, 
societies of the Army of the Cumberland and of ex-Confed- 
erate soldiers, famous and eloquent divines, all bowed in 
grief before the peerless dead. The funeral address, deliv- 
ered by Rev. Isaac Errett, of Cincinnati, was an eloquent 
tribute to the character of Garfield ; while to the dear old 
mother, four-score years of age, to whom the Nation owed 
the education and training that made her son what he 
was, and who from her humble home had shared with him 
the triumph and glory that came to him, step by step, as 
he mounted up from high to higher to receive the highest 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 199 

honor that the land could bestow, now left behind him, 
lingering on the shore where he had passed over; to the 
wife who began with him in young womanhood and 
bravely kept step with him right along through his won- 
drous career, his friend, his counselor, his ministering 
angel ; to his children upon whom the Nation's eyes were 
turned, the consolations offered by the speaker w^ere the 
ten thousand beautiful lessons of love, righteousness and 
truth that hallowed the lips of him — the son, husband and 
father. At the close of the address the Cleveland Vocal 
Society rendered in deeply moving tones Garfield's favor- 
ite hymn, a true epitome of his own life : 

'* Mount up the heights of wisdom 

And crush each error low ; 
Keep back no word of knowledge 

That human hearts should know. 
Be faithful to thy mission, 

In service of thy Lord, 
And then a golden chaplet 

Shall be thy just reward." 

After the benediction by the Rev. Dr. Charles S. Pomeroy, 
the procession was formed, the United States Marine band 
took its place northeast of the pavilion and played slowly, 
"Nearer My God to Thee," and then "In the Sweet Bye 
and Bye," while the artillerymen, five on each side, lifted 
the casket and bore it up into the catafalque, and the pall- 
bearers, Hon. W. S. Streator, Hon. C. B. Lockwood, J. 
H. Rhodes, Esq.. H. C. White, Esq., Judge R. P. Ranney, 
Mr. Edwnn Cowles, Mr. Dan. P. Eells, Hon. R. C. Par 
sons, Mr. Selah Chamberlain, William Robison, Esq., 



200 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Captain E. E. Henry, and Hon. H. B. Payne, emerged 
from the pavilion and took their places beside the funeral 
car. The latter v^as a large platform supported by four 
heavy truck wheels, with heavy draper}^ reaching to the 
ground and bordered with silver fringe, and overhead a 
broad canopy with a lofty dome capped by a large urn, 
with immortelles and beautiful black plumes, the whole 
upheld by six pillars. Twelve black horses, four abreast, 
caparisoned with heavy black cloth covers with silver 
fringe, carrying black white-tipped plumes, and led by six 
colored grooms, drew the magnificent vehicle with its 
quiet burden towards the cemetery. The procession was 
five miles in length. No such imposing pageant was ever 
before beheld in Cleveland. The scores of military and 
civic societies, the rich dress and trappings, the broad 
bands of crape, the funeral car, stately and mournful, the 
slow music of the Marine band, were supremely solemn. 
Every point along the entire length of Euclid avenue was 
occupied by spectators, and with bared heads and hushed 
voices they viewed the cortege. At the cemetery the exer- 
cises were brief. A short oration was delivered by Rev. J. 
H. Jones, chaplain of the Forty-second Regiment, and the 
casket was borne into the receiving tomb, while the 
Marine band began "Nearer My God to Thee," in notes 
whose tender pathos was doubly impressive under the 
solemn surroundings. Thus was the martyred President 
laid to rest. 



\ 





^' 




HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 201 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Organization of the Eakly Settlers' Association — Building of 
Music Hall— Construction of the Fairmount Reservoir — The 
Smith Sunday Law— The New York, Chicago & St. Louis Rail- 
road—The Case School of Applied Science— Building and Burn- 
ing OF the Park Theatre— The Freshet on the Flats— Intro- 
duction OF A New Paving Material— Meeting in Cleveland of 
THE American Medical Association— Strike at the Cleveland 
Rolling Mills— The Cleveland & Canton Railway. 

THE Early Settlers' Association of Cuyahoga county 
was organized on the nineteenth day of November, 
1879, upon a call made at the instance of H. M. Addison, 
signed by about sixty-eight prominent citizens of Cleveland. 
Of those citizens about twenty have since gone to the grave. 
The meeting was held at the Probate Court room, officers 
elected and a constitution adopted. The officers were a 
president, two vice-presidents, a treasurer and secretary. 
The president, Hon. Harvey Rice, has been annually re- 
elected and is still its honored head. The vice-presidents, 
Hon. S. J. Andrews and Hon. John W. Allen, and the treas- 
urer and secretary, George C. Dodge, have passed away. 
The treasurer's report, rendered January 12, 1880, states 
that there were then 155 members. At the last meeting, 
July 22, 1887, the total number of persons having joined 



202 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the organization was 683, of whom about 103 have died, 
leaving a surviving rriembership of 580. The Early Set- 
tlers' Association is one of the most useful and commenda- 
ble organizations in the city. The historical researches 
and pioneer reminiscences of its members are very valua- 
ble and interesting. The annual meetings are held July 22. 
A very praiseworthy^ project of the association is the erec- 
tion of a monument to the memor^^ of General Moses 
Cleaveland. The idea originated some years ago, but it 
was not until the spring of 1887 that decisive steps were 
taken. The monument is under way, and will be formally 
placed and dedicated at the next annual meeting of the 
association July 22, 1888. Three-fourths of the cost of the 
entire work, base, pedestal and statue, four thousand dol- 
lars, has already been subscribed. On another page will 
be found a wood engraving from a photograph of the 
design of the statue. The following from the last report 
of chairman A. J. Williams, of the executive committee, 
will be read with interest : 

The committee is gratified in being able to report great progress in the 
noble project of erecting a monument in honor of General Moses Cleave- 
land. The form and dimensions of the work as finally submitted to the 
Smith Granite Compan3', of Westerly, Rhode Island, have met the 
approval of the committee, and all the details of the structure have been 
agreed upon, and we are happy to report that we are very much 
encouraged by the citizens of our city in the way of contributions to the 
requisite monument fund. 

The city owes the construction of the beautiful new 
Music Hall to the benevolence of Mr. Doan and the enter- 
prise of the prominent business men. Early in 1881 Mr. 




GENERAL MOSES CLEAVELAND. 

(From a photograph of a design of a statue to be erected in the Public Square by the Early 
Settlers' Association.) 203 



204 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Doan donated for this purpose a lot, southwest of the 
confluence of Superior and Erie, valued at fifty thousand 
dollars, and added thereto a gift of ten th(>usand dollars. 
Thenew building was tocontain all modern improvements 
and to be known as the Cleveland Music Hall and Taber- 
nacle. The stipulations of the transfer were simple and 
easily fulfilled. The right and title is vested in five trust- 
ees, three of whom are to be chosen by Mr. Doan or his 
heirs and two by the Cleveland Vocal Society, all vacan- 
cies to be filled by the same parties who chose the prede- 
cessors. This board superintended the construction and 
now regulates all its affairs. The hall under the building 
w^as reserved, as also the control over all religious meet- 
ings held in the building, the Vocal Society regulating all 
use for musical purposes. The main hall is on the ground 
floor, arranged on the amphitheatre plan, wnth a seating 
capacity of four thousand three hundred, the largest in 
in the city. The total cost was $51,333.50. 

It became evident as the city increased in size that a new 
low service reservoir would have to be built. The first 
meeting of the Water Works and Finance Committees to 
decide on a site, was held in June, 18S2. Options were held 
on two lots of land, one on Kinsman street and one on 
Fairinount. Strong claims were presented for each, upon 
which the Council was not able to decide for a long time, 
as personal interests seemed to control some votes. Fair- 
mount was finally chosen, and J. D. Cleveland, J. M. Hoyt 
and F. W. Pelton were made the committee on appraise- 
ment of land. This immense supplj^-lake was put in use 
in November, 1885. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 205 

The Smith Sunday Law was the expression of the seti- 
timent of all sound minded people in Cleveland. It dis- 
pleased a class which was not sensitive on the question 
of sanctity nor inclined to accept the judgment of their 
betters. Against this class the Law and Order Society 
was organized, on the twenty-fifth of April, 1882. The 
society was intended from the first to be permanent. 
General Ed. S. Meyer was the first president. Under this 
beneficial law it soon transpired that instead of having 
one Sabbath in thirty years, the citizens had one every 
week. 

The charter for the New York, Chicago & St. Louis rail- 
road, commonlv called the "Nickel Plate, "from Buffalo to 
Chicago via Cleveland and Fort Wayne, was issued under 
the general railroad law of New York, April 13, 1881, 
and the construction was commenced the same year. The 
road was opened for traflSc October 23, 1882. Its rapid 
building and the remarkable circumstances attending its 
inception and completion at the hands of the Senc}' syn- 
dicate, and the sale of the controlling interests in it by 
Judge Stephenson Burke, representing the owners, to 
William H. Vanderbilt, representing the Lake Shore & 
Michigan Southern railroad, are of such recent date as 
to be still fresh in the public memory. This control was 
obtained by the purchase of fourteen million and fifty 
thousand dollars of its common stock, and twelve million 
four hundred and eighty thousand dollars of its preferred. 
Manager D. W. Caldwell was recently appointed as 
receiver of theroad, and its interests are still safely lodged 
in his hands. Its headquarters are in Cleveland. 



206 HISrOKY OF CLEVELAND. 

The Cleveland & Canton Railway Company, whose 
road was constructed to Cleveland in 1882, began its cor- 
porate history in Carroll county in the year 1850, in the 
character of a strap-iron road, ojjcrated by horse-power, 
and running from Carroll ton to Oneida, a distance of 
twelve miles. It underwent the usual vicissitudes of small 
railway's until, in 1873, it passed into the hands of the 
Ohio & Toledo Railroad Company by whom it was ex- 
tended northerly towards Youngstown and on the south 
towards some point of connection with the Pan Handle. 
But before completing this work the Ohio & Toledo Com- 
pany failed and the road was bought by George L. Ingersoll, 
of Cleveland, and sold by him to eastern parties. A new 
compan}^ was then formed under the name of the Youngs- 
town & Connotton Valley Railroad Compan3^ but later 
changed to the Connotton Valley railroad, and Canton 
fixed upon as its northern terminus, to. which place the 
road was completed in 1880. In the same year the Con- 
notton Northern Railway Company was incorporated 
to build a line from Canton to Fairport. After construct- 
ing the road as far north as Portage county it was de- 
termined to change the terminus, and in 1882 it was com- 
pleted through to Cleveland, The Connotton Northern 
and the Connotton Valley Railway Companies were con- 
solidated under the name of the Connotton Valley Rail- 
wa}' Company, which purchased the Connotton Valley & 
Straits ville railroad, a line running from Canton through 
Coshocton and Zanesville to the Straitsville coal regions. 
On May 9, 1885, the road was sold under order of the 
court and was purchased by a combination of the bond- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 207 

holders and stockholders who reorganized it under the 
name of the Cleveland & Canton Railroad Company. 

What will eventually be one of the greatest schools of 
science in the West was established by the munificent 
bequest of Leonard Case, of real estate worth one million 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, on January 9, 
1880, when a deed was filed which placed this value in trust, 
the income of which was to defray the expenses of the school 
"in which shall be taught by competent professors and 
teachers, mathematics, physics, engineering, mechanical 
and natural drawing, metallurgj^ and modern languages." 
The property conve\'ed in the deed consists of the home- 
stead on Rockwell street, the City Hall and other estate. 
A more complete account of this institution will be found 
in the chapter on education. 

The first life of the Park Theatre was short and glorious. 
The final contracts were let in January, 1883, but the 
work was not begun until April. There was an eighty- 
foot frontage on the Square, and the building was five 
stories high with fire-proof offices. The theatre was fitted 
up in the finest style and was opened to the public by Rhea 
on the twenty-second of October. On the fifth of the fol- 
lowing January a terrific explosion of gas set the whole 
interior of the building on fire, and it was a total wreck in 
a few hours. The loss was great, amounting to one hun- 
dred and seventy-five thousand dollars. In connection 
with it, the Stone church adjacent was burned at a loss 
of twenty thousand dollars. The theatre was rebuilt in 
1885, and is now conducted by Mr. John A. Ellsler. 
Cleveland suffered heavilv from the floods so common 



208 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

in February, 1883. The heavy rains of February 2 and 3 
swelled Kingsbury Run and the Cuyahoga to twenty 
times their ordinary size, and great damage was being 
done in the lumberyards, when fire broke out in the Great 
Western Oil Works. One tank of 5,000 barrels blew up, 
and the burning oil spread over the boiling w^aters and 
formed a literal lake of fire. Below the Great Western's 
tanks were the paraffine works of Meriam & Morgan, 
which were fired by the burning oil. The culverts gorged 
with lumber and the water rose with wonderful rapidity, 
threatening everything within reach with immediate de- 
struction, either by fire or water. All fires at the Standard 
works were extinguished, but in spite of that precaution 
four stills, three tanks and many smaller buildings took 
fire, and the whole surface of the water, which had now be- 
come a lake, was ablaze. It was a w^onderful scene, wnth the 
dozen fire engines working under a full head of steam, in 
torrents of rain, the whole valley ablaze, watched by 
thousands on both banks of the river. The gorge proved 
the salvation of the rest of the Standard's plant, which 
could by no human power have been saved if fire had 
been communicated to the naptha works. As it was, the 
loss was immense — eight tanks and four stills, together 
with coal shoots andtressle work. 

The loss to lumber men was great, as the rapid rise of the 
river ten feet in twenty-four hours precluded any attempt 
to save it. Over two million feet was carried out into the 
lake, involving a loss of three hundred thousand dollars. 
The loss to property owners was very large, for all lower 
stories w^ere flooded ; Scranton avenue was four or five 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 209 

feet in water from Seneca street to Jennings avenue hill. 
The people were rescued from a house on Stone's Levee just 
in time to save them from drowning in the upper story. 
The flats were almost desolated — railroad embankments 
washed away, and bridges off their abutments; lumber 
piled up in promiscuous masses or on the lake; steam tugs 
and other boats shoved up on dry land or smashed into 
splinters, and everywhere the charred ruins of oil tanks 
and stills. Never has such a combination of elements 
united for the destruction of property. The loss was 
five hundred thousand dollars to seven hundred and fift}-- 
thousand dollars. 

Although street improvement has been constant, the 
work of these two years is worthy of special mention 
because of the long controversy that preceded the letting 
of the contracts. Nicholson had proven unendurable and 
asphalt was not any better, and finally Medina block 
stone won the day. Over thirteen miles of this block v/ere 
laid on the following streets: Broadway, Bank. Erie, 
Euclid, Park, Prospect, Superior, Seneca, Woodland, 
Perrv, Frankfort, Lorain, Pearl and Payne avenue. The 
improvement to the streets justified the expenditure in- 
volved, in all $723,310.59. 

Judged by the interest taken by our citizens, the Ameri- 
can Medical Association, which met on June 5, 1883, was 
of absorbing interest. There were undoubtedly more 
educated, scientific men in the city at that time than ever 
before or since. Among the number were Dr. Wm. B. 
Atkinson, Dr. John L. Atlee, Dr. Richard J. Dunglison, Dr. 
Eugene Grisson, Dr. Samuel D. Gross, Dr. Robert Murray. 



210 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

All States were represented but one, and all the territories 
but two. The city was full of Esculapians for four days, 
over a thousand being in attendance. The general meet- 
ings were held in Case Hall, while different sections held 
sessions in the Board of Education rooms, Frohsinn Hall, 
United States Court Room, City Council Chambers and 
other places. 

On the evening of June 5 a public reception was given 
at the Opera House. A band was in attendance and 
luncheon was served in the Rink. This reception was 
largely attended by the citizens ; the honors of the occa- 
sion were done by Drs. X. C. Scott, E. D. Button, S. D. 
Gross, S. N. Davis, J. L. Atlee. Other evenings of the week 
some prominent men on Euclid and Prospect threw open 
their houses and entertained the doctors royally. Some 
of these were Judge R. P. Ranney, Colonel W. H. Harris, 
W. J. Boardman, Ct. E. Herrick, E. B. Hale, Judge Mc- 
Math. General M. D. Leggett, Stewart Chisholm, W. G. 
Rose, W. P. South worth, Henry A. Stephens, Charles 
Hickox, A. C. Armstrong, Rev. Charles Pomeroy, W. B. 
Hale. The week's meeting wound up with an excursion 
on the Nickle Plate to the suburban residence of D. P. 
Eells. 

One of the most important developments of the labor 
trouble in our citv was the strike of the Cleveland Rolling 
Mill's operatives in May, 1882. The Amalgamated Asso- 
ciation of Iron and Steel workers and the Knights of 
Labor had gained a strong foothold among these men. 
The cause of the trouble was the refusal of the managers 
to sign the scale presented to them by the men. The mills 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 211 

closed down and the whole immense concern — consisting 
of three rod mills, one rail, .two wire mills, two blooming 
mills, one bar mill, Bessemer Steel Works, five Siemens- 
Martin steel smelting furnaces, one blast furnace, and 
one foundry and one machine shop — lay idle for over a 
month, and over five thousand men were thrown out of 
employment. The effect on business in Newburg was 
instantaneous and paralyzing. When the managers deter- 
mined to start the mills with non-union men, the strikers 
assumed a defiant attitude. Ever\^ method was resorted 
to of restraining and preventing the new men from work, 
and there were a number of assaults made. But the vigi- 
lance of the police and the increase of the force in that 
quarter averted any riotous acts. In a short time the 
strikers weakened and gave up the fight, some returning 
to work and many seeking employment elsewhere. 



212 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Strike of Telegraph Operators — Free School Supplies — The 
Great Conflagration on the Flats— Building of the City Fire- 
Boat— Labor Eruption at Newburg— General Grant Memorial 
Services — Rebuilding of the New Western Reserve Medical 
College — Redistricting the City — Construction of the New 
Central Viaduct — The Board of Industry — Fur Robbery- 
Reform IN Elections— Table of Population— List of Mayors of 
Cleveland. 

THE telegraph strike, though general, had a special effect 
on Cleveland, owing to the volume of its business. An 
average dav's work for the Western Union was nine thou- 
sand messages, exclusive of the associated press. But 
though this was not all local business, there were three 
other lines, the Mutual Union, the American Rapid and the 
Postal Telegraph, to swell the grand total. The teleg- 
raphers in Cleveland formed a lodge of the Brotherhood 
of Telegraphers, and according to arrangements struck on 
July 19, 1883. The entire Western Union force left but two, 
and the American Rapid's also. Though some help was 
obtained, little could be done, because other offices werenot 
occupied. No movement of wage-workers met with such 
hearty sympathy and support as this. The demands made 
were regarded as just, calling as they did for a restoration 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 213 

of the twenty-five per cent, reduction made, as pay for Sun- 
day work, for eight-hour day work and seven-hour night 
work. The meetings of strikers were attended and ad- 
dressed by some of the most prominent members of the 
bar. On July 30 one of the largest mass meetings ever held 
in Cleveland was addressed by Hon. M. A. Foran and 
others, in their favor. 

The effect on local business was not very marked, except 
on the Oil Exchange and in brokers' offices. Some of these 
margin men lost heavily, and all were in a state of great 
anxiety until the American Rapid acceded to the demands 
of the strikers and transmitted the most urgent messages. 
It was never so clearly shown what important men teleg- 
raphers were until thirty-two of them threatened the 
financial ruin of some of our wealthiest citizens. 

The incoming members of the new Board of Education 
in 1884 were elected on the issue of free school supplies. The 
war note was sounded by the election of Mr. Mahler as 
president of the board. The new members were active ad- 
vocates, and no later than the twenty-eighth of April, the 
Free Supply question was brought to issue by a resolution 
providing for the advertising for bids in all the daily papers. 
The proposals made on blanks furnished by the board 
were for crayons, ink, pens, etc., by the quantity, and were 
to be accompanied by specimens. 

The question of legality was referred to the committee 
on judiciary, which decided it legal, and the board felt no 
further reluctance in the matter. Sealed proposals were 
received and the contract let to four firms. The first ship- 
ment of supplies was distributed, and the bills due were 



214 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

about to be paid out of the school fund when indignant 
taxpayers interfered. 

In opposition to this action of the board, on September 
20 James Parker applied for a temporary injunction to 
restrain the payment of bills then due under contract, on 
the plea of illegality, the petitioner claiming that the stat- 
utes gave no authority for the distribution of free supplies, 
save to pupils of indigent parents. Judge Hamilton 
granted this injunction after an exhaustive review of the 
case, not, however, enjoining the payment on goods re- 
ceived to date. This settled the vexed question that for 
months had filled the " voice of the people " columns in the 
daily papers. 

On Sunday evening, September 7, 1884, the most disas- 
trous fire in the history of the city swept over that portion 
known as the flats. The destruction of property was 
swift and terrible, including everything on a space of over 
fifty acres, and seriously threatening the business portion 
of the city. The fire, of supposed incendiary origin, was 
first discovered in the lumber yard of Woods, Perry & 
Company. The vicinity of this yard was filled with lumber 
and, though the fire was comparatively small wdien first 
discovered, the dry piles of pine burnt as rapidly as the 
driest of pine can burn, and the fire spread in spite of 
the efforts of the Fire Department. Though no breeze was 
stirring the fire was soon seen to be assuming dangerous 
proportions, as it was spreading in every direction. Every 
engine and hose-cart was called out and despatches sent 
to Elyria, Erie, Delaware, Columbus, Youngstown, Paines- 
ville, Akron and Toledo for assistance. The fire reached 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 215 

the docks before a half dozen streams of water were 
turned onto it. By eight o'clock the yard of Potter & 
Birdsal was in full blaze. The heat wasso intensethat the 
Fire Department was practicalh^ useless. Burning brands 
soon communicated the fire to the yard of C. G. King & 
Company on the other side of Carter street. The fire now 
amounted to a conflagration and brought three-fourths of 
the cit\' to the rescue, or, more properl}', to the scene. 
The military were called out to be in readiness should they 
be needed. A brisk breeze carried the fire, first to the Nov- 
elty Iron Works, then to the machine shop of W. R. Enyon 
& Compan}^ across the river to Stanley's Lard Refinerv, 
thus jeopardizing the very heart of the city, as buildings 
stand thick from that point to Superior street. The fire- 
men had been driven out by the heat which was so intense 
as to be felt on Superior street. Many of their hose were 
ruined by the fire, and so they confined their attention to 
preserving the buildings on Scran ton avenue, which proved 
to be one boundary of the burnt district, b}' their heroic 
efforts. But in spite of a strong west wind the fire crept 
toward the Bee Line railroad, destroying the yards of 
House & Davison, then crossed into the yards of Hubbell 
& Westover and Cahoon & Hutchinson. By eleven o'clock 
steamers had arrived from nine surrounding towns and 
were set xo work to stop any further progress toward the 
west. At one time nineteen steamers were at work along 
the Bee Line railroad. 

It was not until three o'clock Mondav morning that the 
fire was fully controlled. By that time over two million 
dollars worth of property had been destroyed. The scene of 



216 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the fire was appalling. Fifty acres of lumber piles, some a 
hundred feet high, and numerous buildings sent up a blaze 
two or three hundred feet into the sky which was visible 
for seventy-five miles. The surrounding buildings were 
covered with spectators, the streets jammed with them, 
the firemen yelling, the engines puffing, and above all the 
horrible roar of the flames. Never has Cleveland so nar- 
rowly escaped the destruction that visited Chicago and 
Boston. Just two weeks after, the experiment of incendi- 
arism was tried at theotherendof the flats, and all but suc- 
cessfully, too. The fires broke out in four different places 
almost simultaneously, and were not extinguished until 
considerable loss of property was sustained. Monroe 
Bros. & Co. lost $63,000, and Brown, Strong & Co, 
$90,000. 

On September 19 of this year some consternation was 
caused b}' an earthquake shock felt in different parts of 
the city. Three or more shocks, properh^ undulations, 
were felt, more or less distinct according to the altitude 
of the observer. No damage was done. In some of the 
high blocks a very perceptible rocking was experienced, 
accompanied by rattling windows and slamming doors. 
In other parts of the city, notably Prospect and Euclid, 
the affrighted inhabitants ran out in the streets screaming 
that the houses were tumbling about their heads ; but no 
buildings fell. 

In 1886, about the time of the demolition of Charleston, 
South Carolina, by an eruption of the earth, a very palpa- 
ble shock visited the city, doing some damage to dishes, 
pictures, statuary, chandeliers, etc. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 2l7 

June 30, 1885, an advertisement to the effect that there 
would be a cut of ten per cent, in wages — making an ag- 
gregate reduction of forty-five per cent, within a year — 
precipitated another strike at the Cleveland Rolling Mill 
Company's works. 

The strike soon assumed alarming proportions, three 
thousand of the most ungovernable element — the Poles and 
Bohemians — being out . Headed by the leaders, they one day 
marched in procession to the city offices of the company, 
and asked that their demands be conceded. But obtaining 
no satisfaction, they proceeded to the office of Alayor 
Gardner and requested him to arbitrate the matter. Mr. 
Gardner cordially extended them sj^mpathy, gave them 
some sound advice concerning their proper conduct as citi- 
zens, and promised to do his best to settle the strike. 

It ver}^ soon became evident that serious trouble would 
arise, as the idle men were addressed daily by inflammable 
and seditious speakers, who denounced capitalists and 
preached anarchy. Emboldened by the wild, riot-inciting 
words of these agitators, particularly of one William Gor- 
such, a large body marched to the works of the Union Steel 
Screw Company', and in the alleged belief that it was oper- 
ated by the Chisholms in connection with the rolling mills, 
brokj into the works and ordered the employes out, at- 
tacking all who resisted or disobeyed. Fayette Brown, the 
president, was quite seriously injured. The leaders were ar- 
rested thenext day. Mayor Gardner now took a vigorous 
course. He told the strikers that the}^ would not again be 
allowed to appear armed on the streets, and that any fur- 
ther riotous acts would be costly to the aggressors. Mr. 



218 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Gardner mingled with the men and often visited Newburg, 
giving them wise and kind adviee, but impressing upon 
them the fact that no violence would be tolerated. His 
good judgment in dealing with them averted several im- 
minent ojutbreaks He called daily sessions of the Police 
Board, that prompt action might be taken to quell any dis- 
turbance, and the preparations were equal to any emer- 
gency. Some weeks after, the Cleveland Rolling Mill Com- 
pany attempted to start up with new men, and a squad of 
police was kept on hand for protection. This precaution 
soon proved not unnecessary, for about one thousand 
strikers besieged the gates for admittance, and encountered 
the force of thirty policemen, who soon dispersed the mob^ 
leaving a dozen or more wounded on the ground. Some 
blood was shed , but no lives were lost . This was the last at- 
tempt at violence. The strikers soon became so needy that 
a relief committee was organized to supply their daily 
wants. But finally, September 27, the former scale of 
wages was restored by the company, the strike was de- 
clared off, and the mills put in motion. This was one of 
the largest and most dangerous of labor disturbances in 
the history of the city. 

The memorial services in honor of General Grant, 
August 9, 1885, were fittingly extensive and im- 
posing. The feehng of sympathy and patriotism 
prompted the citizens to a general participation. 
From sunrise until one o'clock in the afternoon of 
that day, guns were fired every thirty minutes. Church 
and fire bells tolled from 9:30 until 12, when the minute 
guns in Lake View began firing. From a stand in front 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 219 

of the City Hall the mayor and others reviewed the im- 
mense procession of veterans and civilians who had fallen 
in line once more to martial music. At 1:45 the vast 
crowd was addressed from the auditorium in the Park by 
Rev. Cyrus S. Bates, Hon. M. A. Foran, Hon. Amos Town- 
send, H. C. White, Governor Sheldon, and General Ed. S. 
Meyer. In the evening memorial services were held in the 
Tabernacle under the auspices of the Soldiers' and Sailors' 
Union. The enormous meeting was addressed by Colonel 
Winship and General Leggett. The day was generally 
observed, scarcely a window or door in the business part 
of the city being undraped. 

The Board of Industry composed of one hundred of the 
foremost business men of Cleveland, was the outgrowth 
of a movement of a number of citizens for municipal re- 
form on the Federal plan. Early in 1887 the Federal plan 
assumed shape in a- bill to be introduced in the State 
Legislature making the heads of departments appointive 
instead of elective, placing the appointing power in the 
hands of the mayor, and causing many other changes in 
the system of our city government. Several meetings 
w^ere called at the Board of Trade rooms ; and when the 
reform project was given up for the lack of proper support, 
the prime movers, not content that their work should bear 
no fruit, proposed the organization of a "Committee of 
One Hundred," composed of business men, independent of 
politics, the purpose of whose existence should be the dis- 
cussion, investigation and promulgation of all matters 
conducing to the commercial, municipal and general wel- 
fare of the city. The idea met with immediate favor and 



220 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the committee was appointed, the organization being 
named the Board of Industry and Improvements. General 
James Barnett was chosen president ; Thomas Axworthy, 
vice-president; X. X. Crum, secretary; and C. H. Bulkley, 
treasurer. The organization at once commenced the dis- 
cussion of local matters of importance to the business 
interests of the city, and urged legislation on many in 
pressing need of attention. Their vigorous cind admirable 
work is fresh in the minds of our readers. One worth}' of 
particular commendation was their ])ublication of statis- 
tics showing the enormous volume of business transacted 
in Cleveland, her immense manufacturing products and 
marked advantages for business of all kinds. The}' alsO' 
took steps to ascertain whether natural gas could be 
found near enough to the city to render it profitable, and 
although the question, after the most thorough investiga- 
tion, was decided in the negative, the indomitable energy 
and push of the board, together with its findings, did much 
good in the way of stimulating an increased interest in 
general matters of common benefit. The board's name is 
descriptive of it. 

The Superior Street Viaduct was dedicated to the public 
in 1878. It would appear improbable that any other 
public work of like magnitude should have had its incep- 
tion in the year following, but that is the fact. The Belt 
Line or Central Viaduct, which will soon provide the city 
with a second grand highway over the river vallev, had 
its originMarch 3, 1879, when a resolution by J. M. Cur- 
tiss was introduced in and adopted by the City Council, 
"that the City Civil Engineer be and is hereby requested to 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 221 

report the most feasible plan of improving the com- 
munication between the South Side and the central part 
of the city . ' ' This document did not even suggest a struc- 
ture of any kind. To have hinted at another bridge of 
any description to span the gulf at this time, would have 
required more temerity than any city officer possessed. 
The project was not revived until 1883, when a resolution 
passed the City Council submitting the question, "Elevated 
Road w^ay— Yes, No," to popular vote at the spring elec- 
tion, and was carried in the affirmative by over six hundred 
votes. Soon after, a resolution passed the Council recom- 
mending a bill appropriating one million dollars for the 
work. A bill requiring a three-fourths vote of the Council 
was accordingly drafted at once, which was introduced in 
the State Legislature and passed by both branches April 
11, in the exceedingly short time of one da 3^ There w^asno 
further important legislation on the subject till 1885. In 
the meantime, however, there were many heated discussions 
on the question of the most practicable route. In July, 
1 885, a declaratory resolution was adopted by the Common 
Council for the construction of a bridge from near the 
junction of Hill and Ohio streets on the East Side, in a 
straight line to Jennings avenue on the South Side, and 
thence to Abbey street on the West Side. An ordinance 
authorizing the construction of the work passed the Com- 
mon Council December 14, 1885. Contracts were promptly 
made with the lowest bidders and the work commenced 
early in 1886. Great credit is due the municipal officers 
who projected, carried forward and executed this vast im- 
provement, for their good judgment in letting the contracts 



222 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

at a time when the prices of iron and other materials were 
low, their careful and correct calculations, and their 
promptness in getting the work under way. There has 
been no change in the estimates and plans of City Civil 
Engineer C. G. Force, and the entire structure and right of 
way will not cost a cent more than originally estimated 
by him, nor exceed the appropriation of one million dol- 
lars — a fact unprecedented in the history of city improve- 
ments of equal magnitude. It will be completed and 
dedicated to public use in 1888. When finished, this viaduct 
w^ill perfect a belt line extending around the entire busi- 
ness portion of the city, greatly facilitating communica? 
tion between the West, South and East sides, which are 
naturally divided and rendered uneasy of access from one 
to the other by the topography of the city, to the immense 
commercial advantage of the whole city. 

The rebuilding of the Western Reserve Medical College 
was rendered possible by the benevolence of two citizens — 
Mr. H. B. Hurlbut, who left ten thousand dollars for that 
purpose, and especially Mr. J. L. Woods, who not only 
gave one hundred and fifty thousand dollars but w^as fore- 
most in the enterprise. Besides these gentlemen, Hon. H. 
B. Pa^^ie and Oliver P. Payne made tenders of adjacent 
lots, and the latter five thousand dollars in cash, extra. 
The gift of Mr. Woods was made in April, 1884, and imme- 
diate steps were taken toward erecting the new building. 
Architects Richardson and Cudell drew up plans, and it 
had been decided to build pressed brick with terra cotta 
trimmings, four stories high with a one hundred and sixty 
foot tower. Work was about to be commenced, thecollege 



^1^ 




'^<J^....^r*f5z.v,... 



J d^^<^^^ 




^//^^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 223 

holding its sessions in temporary apartments, when the 
great "flats fire" of September 7 delayed any further 
action in the matter by compelling Mr. Woods to appro" 
priate the money set apart for this purpose to the restock- 
ing of his lumber yards. Agreeable to his promise, Mr. 
Woods furnished the funds so that work could be begun 
early in the following 3'ear, and added twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars to his already large gift. The plans were now 
changed and new ones drawn up calling for Twinsburg 
brown stone. The style is Romanesque. The building 
is three stories above ground, 82x134 feet, and is one of 
the best equipped buildings in the city. The edifice was 
finished and dedicated March 8, 1887. 

The great need of better protection against fire on the 
line of the lake and river front was made painfully evident 
on the seventh of September, 1884, when the great fire on 
the flats occurred. The matter was brought to the atteij • 
tion of the Council before the fire was out. On Septembf 1* 
8 a resolution was introduced to instruct the City En- 
gineer to draw up plans for a fire-boat. That ofiicer was 
not regarded an expert in ship-building, and nothing came 
of the resolution. On November 10 the Fire Commission- 
ers asked permission to build a boat not to cost more 
than twenty-five thousand dollars, giving as a reason for 
this request the statement that three hundred and eighty- 
six alarms had been turned in in six years to which a 
boat could have responded, and that these fires involved a 
loss of over two million dollars. The resolution >v^as in- 
troduced and lost. Later, however, an appropriation of 
twenty-nine thousand dollars was made from the Sinking 



224 HISTORY OK CLKVELAND. 

Fund of 1862, with which to build and equip a boat. A 
committee made two trips to New York to inspect the fire- 
boat of that city, and the contracts were let when Judge 
Griswold caused to be issued an injunction restraining the 
city from the use of the Sinking Fund for this purpose, 
claiming it to be unlawful. An act of Legislature re- 
moved this difficulty, and the work proceeded. 

The architect who drew up the plans was William 
Cowles, a marine architect of New York City. The length 
of the boat, over all, is seventy-nine feet. Its maximum 
speed is eleven miles per hour. The pumps are very 
powerful, their capacity of discharge being thirty-two hun- 
dred gallons of water per minute, which is more than the 
capacity of three of the largest steam fire engines in the 
city. The boat — named the Weatherley — was put in 
service in November, 1886. It is estimated that this ap- 
paratus more than paid the cost of its construction within 
six weeks. This is one of the most important additions 
to our fire service. 

No occurrence of its kind has awakened the interest of 
the people half as much as the robbery committed at the 
fur store of Benedict & Reudy on the twenty-ninth of 
Januar}^, 1887. The value of the goods stolen was not 
extraordinary, being between seven and eight thousand 
dollars; but the mystery was profound. The chain of 
startling events linked to this robbery, which have been 
transpiring ever since, are perfectly familiar to the public. 
It only remains to add here that the series of crimes start- 
ing with the fur robbery will go down among the most 
notorious in the criminal history of the city. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 225 

The city has been twice redistricted in three years. Feb- 
ruary 4, 1884, by reason of the size of some wards, an 
ordinance was passed dividing the city into twenty-five 
w^ards and changing most of the boundary lines. Again 
in September, 1885, many of the wards were subdivided 
"for registration and election purposes." But this ordi- 
nance was repealed by one passed February 24, 1886, 
creating forty wards. It is hoped by all who desire to 
keep in mind the location of wards that there will not be- 
another ripping up of lines very soon. 

The registration law of 1886, which compels all electors 
to register before voting, has had a very beneficial effect in 
Cleveland, and won the favor of all good citizens. It pro- 
hibits boisterous gatherings at the polls, and enables the 
judges and clerks to conduct elections in a quiet and busi- 
ness like manner. 

The following table of population of Cleveland shows 
its growth from 1796 to 1887: 

1796 4 

1830 United States Census 1,075 

1846 " " " 10,135 

1850 " " " 17,054 

1860 " " " 43,838 

1870 " " " 92,825 

1880 " " " 160,141 

1881 Police Enumeration 167,413 



1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 



185,851 
194,684 
200,429 
205,446 
214,013 



1887 Estimate of City Directory 239,226 



226 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

In the " Official List " will be found the names of all city 
and many county officials from 1836 to November, 1887. 
It has been thought proper, however, to give a list of 
mayors from the city charter to the present. They were 
as follows : 

John Willey 1836-1837 

Joshua Mills 1838-1839 

Nicholas Dockstader 1840 

John W.Allen 1841 

Joshua Mills 1842 

Nelson Hay ward 1843 

Samuel Starkweather 1844-1845 

George Hoadley 1846 

Josiah A. Harris 1847 

Lorenzo A. Kelsey 1848 

Flavel W. Bingham 1849 

William Case 1850-1851 

Abner C. Brownell 1852-1854 

William B. Castle 1855-1856 

Samuel Starkweather 1857-1858 

George B. Senter 1859-1860 

Edward S. Flint 1861 

I. U. Masters 1862-1863 

Herman Chapin 1864-1867 

Stephen Buhrer 1868-1871 

F. W. Pelton 1872-1873 

Charles A. Otis 1873-1874 

N.P.Payne 1875-1876 

W. G. Rose 1877-1878 

R. R. Herrick 1879-1882 

John Farley 1883-1884 

George W. Gardner 1885-1886 

B. D. Babcock 1887 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 227 



EDUCATION IN CLEVELAND. 



THE PUBLIC vSCHOOLS. 

NO feature of the city of Cleveland is more typical of the 
city itself than the public schools. The present chap- 
ter as well as the present work, is but an expansion of the 
phrases that describe the three great periods into which the 
history of the city may be divided : small beginnings, a 

LONG PERIOD of SLOW GROWTH, and a HALF CENTURY of 

CONSTANT PROGRESS, Culminating in large and fair propor- 
tions. 

I. — BEFORE THE CHARTER, 1796-1836. 

The men who began the Cleveland settlement brought 
with them not only their New England education, but 
also their New England ideas about education. So we are 
no way surprised when tradition tells us of a school of 
five pupils when there were but three families on the 
ground. Who taught this first school, and where, as 
well as its precise date, can now never be ascertained. 
Neither from history nor tradition do we hear any intima- 



^28 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

tion of any other school until the year 1814, when we find 
one taught by a Mr. Capman ; a name and nothing more. 
Mrs. Abigail Wright, who died at an advanced age on the 
West Side in 1880, used to relate that, when a girl of sev- 
enteen, she came to Cleveland in 1815, on her way to 
Ridgeville, now Lorain County, she put up at the log 
cabin of a Mr. Shepard, whom she had known in Ver- 
mont. Shepard told her that the people of the village 
wanted a school; he and his wife counted up twenty chil- 
dren that would attend, and they urged her to stay and 
teach one. Some of the neighbors added their solicita- 
tions toShepard's, and she was disposed to accept the invi- 
tation ; but the proposition did not meet the views of her 
father, and she w^ent on with him to her destination. No 
doubt there had been several "schools" before 1815, but 
of necessity they were small, of short duration, and irreg- 
ular. 

The first public record relating to education now ex- 
tant, and probably the first one ever made, is an enact- 
ment of the Trustees of the village of the date of January 
13, 1817, to the eftect "that the several sums of money 
which were by individuals subscribed for the building of a 
school-house in said village shall be refunded to the sub- 
scribers, and that the corporation shall be the sole proprie- 
tor of the said school-house; which said subscribers shall be 
paid out of the treasury of the corporation at the end of 
three years from and after the thirteenth of June, 1817." 
Then follows a schedule of the subscribers, twenty-five in 
all, their subscriptions ranging from $2.50 to $20.00 each, 
and aggregating $198.70. Evidently the original purpose 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 229 

was for the corporation and the subscribers to build the 
school-house together; the latter had already paid in their 
money ; but for some reason now unknown that plan was 
abandoned, and each of the two parties went on his own 
separate way. The Trustees now proceeded to build a 
school-house, the first ever built on the site of the city — 
an old-fashioned 24x30 school-house, just such a one as 
was once common in all the northern States, and just 
such as can be found in some parts of the country to-day 
— in a grove of oak trees on the lot now covered by the 
Kennard House, and facing St. Clair street. However, 
the schools taught in this house were practically private 
schools ; the Trustees gave the rent to such teachers as 
were engaged from time to time, the teachers charging 
such tuition fees as were agreed upon, save in the cases of 
children who were unable to pay tuition, who attended 
free. How the Trustees contrived to build this house is a 
mystery. The first mention of a school-tax in the legisla- 
tion of Ohio is found in the first general school law of the 
State, enacted in 1821, while it was not until 1838 that 
the law authorized a tax for the purchase of lots on which 
to erect school-houses. The village contained a popula- 
tion of two hundred and fifty in 1817; and it is nowise 
difficult to imagine what the schools taught in the St. 
Clair Street building were, especially if one has seen the 
pioneer or semi-pioneer schools of Ohio or other State. It 
was said in 1876 that several persons were still living who 
learned to read in this primitive school-house, and it is 
possible that some such are living to-day. 

The subscribers who retired from the partnership with 



230 HISTORY OF CLEVKLAND. 

the corporation, together with other citizens, not content 
with the village school, went on to build, also on St. Clair 
street, directly opposite the village school-house, a school- 
house of their own, called first the Cleveland Academy, 
and afterwards the Old Academy. This was completed in 
1821, a brick building two stories in height, containing 
three or four school-rooms. The picture of this building, 
still extant, together with the traditionary descriptions, 
show the Academ\' to have been a structure of which a 
young Ohio village of three hundred or four hundred peo- 
ple, in 1821, not containing a single wealthy man, might 
well be proud. The teachers in the Academy were kept in 
their places by tuition fees. Mr. Harvey Rice was one of 
them. The village school and the Academy w^ent on side 
by side a dozen years or more, citizens exercising their own 
choice as to the one that the}' patronized. All this time, 
too, or at least for much of it, there were various primary 
schools in diflferent parts of the towm, kept up, of course, 
at the private cost of those who used them. Apparently 
the corporation had exhausted its interest or powder, or 
both interest and power, in building the humble school- 
house of 1817; at least, w^e hear nothing more of it in the 
educational field until 1830, when the Trustees repudiated 
a "supposed contract" for purchasing the Academy that 
had been entered into by some one representing or pre- 
tending to represent them, the ground of said reputation 
being that no corporation tax had been levied to pay 
either the principal or the interest that the purchase 
would incur. 
Mr. S. H. Mather, in a communication to Mr. Freese, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 231 

found in his * Early History of the Cleveland Public Schools', 
thus describes the origin of the first Cleveland free school : 

"A Sunday-school was organized intheold Bethelchurch, 
probably in 1833 or 1834, a kind of mission or ragged 
school. The children, however, were found so ignorant that 
Sunday-school teaching, as such, was out of the question. 
The time of the teacher was obliged to be spent in teaching 
the children how to read. To remedy this difficulty and 
make the Sunday-school available, a day school was 
started. It was supported by voluntary contributions, and 
was a charity school in fact, to which none sent but the 
very poorest people."* This school was continued on this 
basis until the city, in 1836, assumed the charge of it and 
made it a city free school. 

The foregoing is a meagre sketch of the educational work 
done in Cleveland down to 1836. But Mve urge in extenu- 
ation that the materials for a full sketch, even if we had 
space to use them, do not exist. If we had a full account 
of the schools and education of those years, the small part 
played by the corporation would be even more striking 
than it is here made to appear. However, we must re- 
member that, although the Legislature often conferred addi- 

* A different account is given in 'Cleveland, Past and Present,' 1869, 
p. 257. " The first public school of Cleveland, the Cleveland Free school, 
v^as established in March, 1830, for the education of male and female 
children of every religious denomination and was supported by the city. 
It v^'as held for years in the basement of the Bethel church, which was 
then a frame building measuring 30x40 feet, situated at the corner of 
Diamond street and Superior Street hill." From what sources this very 
particular account is drawn, we cannot say ; the one given in the text is 
found in the public school publications, and it rests on the direct testi- 
mony of Mr. Mather. 



232 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

tioiial school powers on local authorities in the years be- 
tween 1821 and 1836, said powers were still exceedingl}^ 
small as measured by the standard of to-day. The present 
State Commissioner of Common Schools, Honorable E. T. 
Tappan, says very appositely: "The laws previous to 
1838, and to a less extent after that year, contemplated 
that a large portion of the district school expenses should 
be paid by voluntary contributions. It was made the duty 
of the district treasurer or directors to keep an account 
of such moneys, and they were held responsible for their 
proper expenditure." 

[L — THE SCHOOLS ORGANIZED UNDER THE CHARTER OF 
1836. 

Cleveland became a city in April, 1836. Sections XIX 
to XXIV of the charter relate to common schools. The 
Common Council was authorized to levy a tax of not more 
than one mill on the dollar on the tax duplicate of the city 
for the purchase of school sites and building school-houses, 
and an additional mill for the support of a school in each 
of the three wards into which the city was divided, for a 
term not less than six months, accessible to all white chil- 
dren not under four years of age ; the Council should fix 
by ordinance the commencement and termination of the 
school year, and determine the time and duration of vaca- 
tions; it should also appoint every year a board called the 
Board of Managers of Common Schools of the Cit^^ of 
Cleveland, in which the detailed administration of school 
affairs should vest. This Board of Managers, for example, 
should make regulations for the government of the school; 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 233 

examine and emplo}^ teachers ; fix the salaries of teachers, 
subject to the approval of the Coui;cil ; make repairs on 
school-houses and furnish supplies, but subject to the con- 
sent of theCouncil when the repairs and supplies together for 
a school-house amounted to more than ten dollars a year, 
and should certif\^ to the Council all expenses incurred in 
support of the schools. These were very meagre powers 
certainly, compared with those of the Cleveland School 
Board to-day. Here it should be remarked that at no time, 
from that day to this, has any attention been paid, in ad- 
ministering the schools of Cleveland, to disabilities imposed 
by law upon colored children, whether by the charter of 
1836 or other law ; the schools have always been as open 
and free to colored children as to white children, and such 
a thing as a "colored " pubhc school has never been known 
in the city. Furthermore, in 1848 all children less than 
six years of age were excluded from the schools of the city 
by especial enactment of the Legislature. 

It is clear that the charter contemplated a system of free 
public schools. In May the Mayor sent to the Common 
Council a communication in relation to the subject, and 
in June it was resolved, "that a committee be, and is 
hereby appointed, to employ a teacher and an assistant, 
to continue the free school to the end of the quarter, or 
until a school system for the city should be organized at 
the expense of the city." This "free school" was the 
charity school in the Bethel already mentioned. A few 
extracts from the proceedings of the Council will show 
the progress of events. 

June 22, 1836, an ordinance for the lew and collec- 



234 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

tion of a school tax was presented ; September 22, fol- 
lowing, the report of Mr. Gazalay, the principal of the 
Bethel school, was submitted, showing an enrollment 
of two hundred and twenty-nine children the previous 
"quarter," and that the expenses of the school were 
$131.12; October 5 the Council appointed J. W. Willey, 
Anson Haydon, and Daniel Worlev the first Board of 
School Managers; March 29, 1837, this Board reported 
that it had continued the common free school another 
"quarter" at an expense of $185.77, urging the need 
of a more liberal outlay for schools, and pressing the great 
need of school-houses ; and in April following the second 
Board \vas appointed, Samuel Cowles, Samuel Williamson, 
and Phillip Battles. At this time the Bethel school was 
the only one belonging to the city, and the city did not 
own a single school building (for we hear no more of the 
house of 1817) or lot on which to build one As the pop- 
ulation of the city in 1836 was five thousand, and as the 
number of youth of legal school age was more than two 
thousand, it is not probable that the total attendance of 
children on schools of all sorts was less than eight hun- 
dred. It is, therefore, plain that the private primary 
schools and the Academy, were, in 1837, the main educa- 
tional reliance of the people. But in due time the Council 
passed a school ordinance which, as it is the first one of 
the kind in the history of the city, we quote entire : 

An oi-dinance to provide for the establishment of Common Schools. 

Section 1 . Be it ordained by the City Council of the city of Cleveland, 
that the School Committee of the Council is hereby authorized to pro- 
cure, by lease, suitable buildings or rooms for the use of the city, to be 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 235 

trcupied as school-rooms, as hereinafter provided, under the authority 
of the city; provided, that such buildings or rooms shall be appropriated 
by the Board of Managers of Common Schools. The expense of the 
lease of the same shall not exceed one-half the amount which the City 
Coimcil is authorized to appropriate annually for the construction of 
buildings for school purposes. 

Section 2. The School Committee of the Council is further authorized 
and instructed to provide, at the expense of the city, the needful apparatus 
and furniture for the buildings or rooms thus provided, and the added 
expense of which shall not exceed tlie limits prescribed in the first section 
of this act. 

Section 3. It is further ordained that th^ Board of Managers of Com- 
mon Schools in the city is hereby authorized to establish immediately, 
in the premises provided aforesaid, such schools of elementary education 
as to them shall seem necessar3% and procure instructors for the same. 
The term or session of such schools shall commence on the 24th of Julj' 
inst., and continue four months, to wit: till the 24th day of November 
next. 

Section 4. It being provided that such schools are to be supplied 
from the revenue of the city set aside for such purposes, so that the ex» 
pense of tuition and fuel in said schools shall not be permitted to exceed 
said specified revenue. 

Passed July 7th. 1837. 

The Board of Managers proceeded at once to organize 
the schools and set them in motion under this ordinance. 
That was fifty years ago, and since that time the schools 
have fairly kept pace with the growth of the city. 

The First Annual Report of theschoolsof Cleveland was 
made in April, 1838. It shows the following among other 
results : Three school districts ; six schools the first term, 
and eight schools the second term ; a school year of about 
eight months; three male and five female teachers the 
second term, the first paid forty dollars per calendar month, 
and the second five dollars per week; eight hundred and 



236 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

forty namCvS on the registers, with an average attendance 
of four hundred and sixty-eight ; a local school levy of half 
a mill, and a total school income of $2,830; teachers' sala- 
ries, both terms, $1,509.44. The Managers say the boys 
and girls have been taught separately, save in the two 
"child's schools," or schools for the youngest scholars ; that 
the schools have been "inspected" and the teachers "ex- 
amined" as the charter requires; and that a census taken 
under their direction the previous October contains the 
names of 2,134 persons in the city between the ages of four 
and twenty-one. They state the possible school income 
for the next year at $4,300, which will support twelve dis- 
trict schools. Such a number of schools, they say, w^ill 
accommodate an average of seven hundred and twenty 
pupils, which is a third of the whole number privileged to 
attend. Unfortunately, how^ever, these anticipations for 
the ensuing year were not fully realized. The report for 
1839 says "the common English branches of education" 
had been taught in all the schools, and that considerable 
progress had been inade in the higher branches, as History, 
the Natural Sciences, etc., in some of them. It is plain that 
the Board construed the ordinance under which it acted, 
liberally, for that spoke only of an ' ' elementary education. ' ' 
A programme that has been wafted down from the year 
1840, shows that the History of the United States, Algebra, 
and Natural Philosophy were taught in addition to the 
common branches. 

All this time the city did not own a single school-room, 
but in 1839 the Council bought the Academy on St. Clair 
street for six thousand dollars. The same year the Coun- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 237 

cil, in the face of strong opposition, began to build two 
school-houses, one on Prospect street and one on Rociv- 
well street. The Prospect Street building is still used for 
school purposes, the oldest school-house in the cit}'. These 
two buildings, completed in 1840, together with the Acad- 
emy, accommodated but twelve teachers and six hundred 
pupils, while the school statistics of that year show six- 
teen teachers and ten hundred and forty pupils. Of course, 
the city was still renting school-rooms. Some of the 
schools were ungraded, but at the principal buildings 
there were a Senior and a Primary department, each 
department having two schools, one for bovs and one 
for girls. The programmes that have survived show much 
confusion in classification and in text-books. From 1840 
to 1846 we know little of what was going on in the 
schools, but there was no doubt a steady expansion of 
the course of study and a steady improvement of the 
classification. Not a school-house built in that period is 
now standing; and such houses as were built, if any, were 
temporar\^ structures. 

In 1846 an important step forward was taken. George 
Hoadl}^ Esq., on assuming the duties of Mayor of the 
city in the spring of that year, earnestly recommended to 
the favorable consideration of the Council the propriety 
of establishing a school of a higher grade — an academic 
department — the scholars to be selected from the common 
schools according to merit. A resolution in conformity 
with this recommendation was adopted by the Council, 
rooms were rented in the basement of the building now 
occupied by the Homceopathic College on Prospect street, 



238 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

then a church, and there the school went into operation 
July 13, 1846, with Andrew Freese as principal. This was 
a school for boys only, and eighty-three attended the first 
term. Girls were admitted the next year. At first the 
high school was strongly opposed, some of its enemies 
declaring that it was illegal, and some inexpedient. Most 
of the heavy tax-payers, while claiming to be in favor of 
free schools, were not willing, they said, to pay taxes to 
support high schools or colleges. The subject was much 
discussed in public meetings and in the press, as well as in 
the Council ; biit the matter was never settled until the 
w^inter of 1848-49, when a law was obtained from the 
Legislature authorizing tmd requiring the Council to main- 
tain a high school. The Council now made the school a 
permanent part of the city sj^stem, but kept it well down 
to the point of starvation for a number of years, during 
which the average yearly expenditure for that purpose 
was but nine hundred dollars, the average attendence 
of pupils, however, running all the time, from eighty to 
ninety. In time the opposition slackened and the ap- 
propriations became more liberal. The lot on which the 
building now occupied by the Board of Education and the 
Public Librarv stands was purchased for this school, and a 
cheap wooden building was put up for its temporary 
accommodation in 1852. The present building was com- 
pleted in 1856, and it was the home of the Central High 
School until all the high schools east of the river were con- 
solidated in the beautiful building on Willson avenue, in 
1878. It is worthy of remark that this school, established 
in 1846, was the first free public high school in Ohio; for more 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 239 

than forty years it has done an invaluable work for the 
youth of Cleveland, teaching thousands and graduating 
hundreds of pupils. The successive principals of this 
school have been Andrew Freese, E. E. White, W. S. 
Palmer, Theodore Sterling, W. A. C. Converse, S. G. Wil- 
hams, Z. P. Taylor and M. S. Campbell, the last of whom 
has now presided over it very successfully for four years. 

This school is now one of the largest high schools in 
the country, employing about twenty-five teachers and 
enrolling, on any given day, about eight hundred pupils. 
In the following paragraphs the first principal gives this 
picture of the school in its infancy : 

All the work of the school was done by two teachers up to the fall of 
1852, when an additional assistant was employed. The course of study 
embraced all the branches usually taught in high schools, excepting the 
languages, which were not added till 1856. With so small a teaching 
force, it was, of course, impossible to cover the exercises in any regular 
order of classification. As a partial remedx' for omissions and breaks, 
classes were heard out of school hours, sometimes assembling after tea 
in the evening. 

The necessities of the school were pressing, and the efforts put forth by 
teachers and scholars to supply them in part were courageous. This 
much, at least, should be said. In prosecuting the study of Natural Sci- 
ence, some illustrative apparatus seemed indispensable. The boys of the 
school supplied it. They purchased a few pieces from time to time, until 
the collection was worth upwards of five hundred dollars. They earned 
it. They earned it by giving lectures, chiefly upon topics in chemistry, 
by doing small jobs in surveying, and occasionally they secured dona- 
tions of money from their friends. They purchased materials and laid up 
with their own hands a small brick laboratory-, and finished it off com- 
plete for their use. There is scared}' a principle in mechanical philosophy 
that they did not illustrate by machinery of their own construction ; in- 
deed, the same ma\^ be said of nearh' every other branch of physical sci- 
ence. For tsYO or three 3'ears they published a small monthly paper. 



240 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

This yielded a good deal of fun and some money. It was useful, too, in 
other ways. 

For many years the schools had no uniform course of 
study, and the classification was verj' imperfect. In 1848- 
49 we come upon this scheme : Primary, Intermediate, 
Senior, and High schools, each divided into three classes. 
Some progress had also been made towards a uniformity 
of text-books. Until 1841 there had been no general 
supervision of the schools save such as the Managers gave, 
but in that year the Council created the office of Acting 
Manager of the Public Schools. This officer was a mem- 
ber of the Board, was its secretary; as Acting Manager 
his duties were to provide fuel and supplies, to look after 
the repairs, and to exercise a general oversight of the dis- 
cipline and instruction of the pupils. He was paid a small 
compensation for his services. Charles Bradburn was 
Acting Manager from 1841 to 1848 ; George Willey from 
1848 to 1852; James Fitch from 1852 to 1853. These 
gentlemen were all actively engaged in business or in pro- 
fessions ; but Mr. Bradburn gave, it is said, one-fourth of 
his time to the work, and Mr. Willey, who left some re- 
ports that are still worth reading, paid to the schools so 
much attention that his law partner complained that the 
business of the firm suffered in consequence. More than 
this, the Council was in the habit of appointing Visiting 
Committees of citizens that visited the schools and made 
careful report to the Board. A resolution now lying 
before us thus defines the duties of these committees : 
"That the Visiting Committees be requested to visit the 
schools in their respective wards, in concert, at some time 




Magsiine of Western Hiatar)^ 




F:ng^ by E GWiHiame asn 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 241 

to be appointed by themselves, as often as twice in each 
term, and after carefully examining each school to report 
the result of their examination to the Board of Education, 
at least one week before the close of the term." And how 
thoroughly' these committees performed their duties, some- 
times at least, is shown by a report of six printed pages, 
signed b}' Messrs. T. P. Handy, J. B. Waring, J. A. Vin- 
cent, H. Hay ward and C. D. Brayton, that also lies before 
us. 

This is a good place to observe that in those years the 
schools profited greatly by the labors of public-spirited 
citizens, who were thoroughly committed to the cause of 
popular education, some of whom were men of high ability 
and education themselves. Charles Brad burn served on 
the Board of Managers thirteen years, and he quit it then 
onl}-^ to enter the City Council, where he thought he could 
be of more service to the cause that lay so near his heart. 
He it was who obtained the law requiring the Council to 
support a high school. The one city office that the vener- 
able T. P. Handy would ever consent to hold was that of 
Member of the School Board. George Willey served on 
the Board fifteen years. Mr. Freese, in his history of the 
schools, emphasizes the high qualifications of the men who, 
as members of the Board and the various Visiting Commit- 
tees, gave direction to school affairs forty years ago. J. 
W. Willey, Cowles, Williamson, Battles, Mather, George 
Willey, Starkweather, Tucker, Fitch, Waring, Palmer, 
Thome, Rice and the Ingarsolls, whose names constantly 
occur in school records of those and later vears, were all 
college educated men. The school-houses of to-day over- 



242 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

shadow in number and size these of that day; the sums of 
money expended on the schools now dwarf the sums ex- 
pended then; the corps of teachers and the army of children 
are ten or twenty-fold greater ; but citizens of to-day can 
learn a lesson in public school matters from citizens of 
that day. 

But the schools were growing, and a superintendent to 
look after them more closely and intelligently than a 
business or professional man could possibly do, was impera- 
tively called for. Recognizing this fact, the Board desired 
to appoint a professional superintendent, but the Common 
Council held back. At a public meeting called for that 
purpose the subject was discussed, Dr. E. E. White, then 
principal of Brownell school, now Superintendent of the 
Schools of Cincinnati, making the principal argument in 
favor of a superintendent; and this meeting, with other 
agencies, gave the proposition such an impetus that on 
June 1, 1853, the Council created the office, which the 
Managers promptly filled. At that time Cincinnati was 
the only city in the West that had a superintendent who 
gave his whole time to superintendence. Nor did the new 
Cleveland superintendent devote himself fully to that 
work for a year or more, but continued at the head of 
the High school also. 

Before leaving this division of the subject we should 
remark that instruction in music was introduced into the 
schools in 1846. For several years following 1852 Mr. 
Silas Bingham was special teacher of music, and his 
labors contributed not a little towards starting the 
Cleveland schools on the way to that proud position in 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 243 

music that they have enjoyed for many years under the 
direction of Professor N. Coe Stewart. Drawincr came in 
1849, and for a number of years the well-remembered Pro- 
fessor Jehu Brainard gave able instruction in that branch 
of education. 

III.— SUPERLNTENDENT FREESE's ADMINISTRATION, 

1853-1860. 

Andrew Freesecame to Cleveland a young man of twenty- 
four in 1840, when there was not a system of graded schools 
In Ohio. He was a graduate of an eastern college, had 
had considerable experience in teaching, and had studied 
the science of education. Offering his services to the Board 
of Managers, he was engaged as a teacher and put at the 
head of the Prospect Street school, where he wrought and 
taught until called to the High School in 1846. He acted 
as Principal of this school until 1853. For thirteen years 
he had shown, as a teacher, large intelligence and scholar- 
ship, great zeal and energy, and had been very successful; 
it was, therefore, the most natural thing in the world that 
he should be called to the new office of Superintendent. 
Mr. Freese filled this office with excellent judgment and 
an enthusiastic devotion never surpassed, until 1861 . Sev- 
eral important steps forward were made in those years, 
some of which will be mentioned. 

School buildings and other material appliances were 
improved and multiplied. A regular course of study 
throughout, a thing before unknown in the city, was 
adopted at once, and this made an improved classification 
of pupils possible. In 1856 the classical languages were 



244 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

introduced into the High Schools, of which there were two 
after the union, and in 1858 German followed. But above 
all else Mr. Freese was a teacher. He had the insight to 
invent or select good methods of instruction, and he could 
not onh^ use them himself but inspire other teachers to use 
them. He visited all the cities of the country where there 
Avas an^^thing to learn about public education, bringing 
back with him the ripe fruit of his observation. Withal, he 
enkindled in pupils and teachers his own enthusiasm for 
study and learning. It is quite safe to say that no other 
superintendent of the city schools ever impressed himself 
upon the school children as strongh^ as Air. Freese ; the 
explanation of which is partly the fact that the pupils 
were then few in number as compared with later times, and 
partly to his personal qualities as teacher and man. In 
1868-1869 he acted again as Principal of the Central 
High School, and then retired permanently from the service. 
The Board of Education at that time declared by resolu- 
tion: "To him more than any other man, are we indebted 
for the deservedly elevated character of our system of 
graded schools." 

While the schools were under Mr. Freese's charge, the 
number of pupils increased from 2,845 to 5,081, and the 
number of teachers from 41 to 83. The increase was due, 
in part, to the union of the two cities in 1854. Ohio City 
came into the union with a school poj^ulation of some 
twenty-four hundred and with a registration of about 
eight hundred in the schools There were three new school- 
houses in course of construction at the time, of which 
Hicks and Kentucky buildings are still in use. The schools 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 245 

w^ere not perfectly graded, but a high school was in rapid 
process of evolution. The year after the union, this school 
was organized and for a time was called the ' ' Branch High 
School," becau!-~e the law authorized only one high school 
in the city ; but this difficulty was in some way soon obvi- 
ated, and the school ceased to be a "branch "even in name. 
This school has occupied various homes, of which only 
two need be mentioned — the familiar old West High School 
at the intersection of Ann and State streets, occupied from 
1861 to 1884, and the fine building now occupied at the 
corner of Taylor and Bridge streets. Air. A G. Hopkinson 
was the father of this school ; save for a single 3^ear, he 
served as Principal from 1854 to 1870. The other prin- 
cipals have been A. G. Manson, Warren Higlc}-, S. D. Barr, 
Z. P. Taylor, J. H. Shults, Th. H. Johnston, and E. L. 
Harris. 

IV. — MR. oviatt's administration. 

Mr. Luther M. Oviatt was a graduate of Western Re- 
serve College, and he entered the service of the city as a 
teacher about the year 1845. For man\^ years he served 
ably and faithfully as Principal of the Eagle Street school, 
andonMr.Freese's retirement in 1861 he was chosen Super- 
intendent. He served two years and then retired. That 
the schools thrived under his care is shown by the fact 
that the number of pupils increased 1,470 in two years, 
a large gain for that time. On his retirement, Mr. 
Oviatt became head of the Public Library, and continued 
such until compelled by ill health to abandon the 
position. 



246 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Y— SUPERLXTENDENT ANSON SMYTH, 1863-1867. 

Rev. Dr Smvth entered the Superintendent's office at the 
beginning of the school year, 1863-64, and occupied it 
until 1867. Bred to the ministry, he had served four 
years as Superintendent of the Schools of Toledo, six years 
as State Commissioner of Common Schools, and had done 
duty as the editor of the journal that is now "The Ohio 
Educational Monthly." Mr. Smyth had not paid particu- 
lar attention to methods of instruction; he was weak 
where Mr. Freese had been strong; but he had good com- 
mon sense, sound judgment, was an excellent judge of 
character and particularly of teachers, had an inexhaust- 
ible fund of good humor, was a man of fine feeling, and 
while in the Commissioner's office had much observation 
of school organization. As a result, his administration 
of the schools was remarkable for strength in organization 
rather than in instruction. He laid much stress on the 
moral elements of education, and emphasized character- 
building. In after 3'ears he often pointed with just pride 
to the fact that a very large number of the teachers then 
in responsible positions had originally been chosen by 
him. Dr. Smyth was reelected in 1867, but declined 
to serve longer. He w^as paid at first a salary of $1,800, 
afterwards of $2,100.* 

* Dr. Smyth died in May, 1887, in his seventy-sixth year. The Cleve- 
land teachers who had served under him, of whom there were still twenty 
or more in the service, met and adopted the following resolutions : 

Resolved, That in the death of the Rev. Dr. Anson Smyth vi^e have lost 
a true and tried friend, whose life has been devoted to the advancement 
of the cause of education among the masses, the elevation of moral char- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 247 

VL— THE SCHOOLS UNDER A. J. RICKOFF, 1867-1882. 

On Dr Smyth's retirement in 1867, there was some diffi- 
culty in obtaining a Superintendent; one or two gentlemen 
who were elected declined. At last, choice was made of 
Mr. Andrew J. RickofF, who had won a wide and high rep- 
utation as an educator as the head of a private school in 
Cincinnati, and as Superintendent of the Cincinnati Public 
schools. He continued Superintendent of the Cleveland 
schools fifteen years, and during which he did more to 
shape the school organization of the city than any other 
Superintendent has ever done. The space at our disposal 
will permit only a general summary of the results of his 
administration. 

First, a large number of excellent school buildings was 
built, several of them after plans of Air. Rickofif's own 
devising. The course of study was overhauled from end 
to end, and the work, in several respects, laid down on 

acter, and the dissemination of Christian principles among those with 
whom he, either personally or through the medium of his writings, came 
in contact ; that society has lost a most worthy member, one who, both 
byword and deed, was ever read^' to cheer the discouraged, help the needy, 
and relieve the distresses of the broken-hearted ; that the State has lost 
a servant who gave the best years of his life to the promotion of those 
interests which alone can render secure the grand institutions of the com- 
monwealth, one who assisted greatly in the organization and the perfec- 
tion of our public school system, and who for several years as State 
Commissioner gave tone and direction to the work of our common 
schools, and who as Superintendent of the Schools of Cleveland for four 
years did much toward laying the broad foundation which made their 
present prosperity possible. 

Resolved, That in the accomplishment of all this work he has reared 
to himself a monument more enduring than time itself 



248 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

new lines. The classification of pupils was revised, the 
twelve grades being thrown together in three grand 
groups: Primary, Grammar, and High School grades, 
every group containing four grades— marked D, C, B and 
A, counting from the bottom upward. The old division 
into "bo3^s' schools" and "girls' schools" was abolished. 
A process of consolidation of the A Grammar, or highest 
grammar, pupils was begun in 1867—68 and carried out 
until there were but four such schools in the cit\s afterwards, 
with the increase of pupils, the number was increased to 
nine in 1876, and to fourteen in 1882. Perhaps the most 
noticeable of Mr. Rickoff's changes was substituting 
women for men as principals of the Grammar schools, 
and dividing the cit}' into districts, each presided over 
bv a Supervising Principal. At first there were four 
of these, but the number was soon reduced to three, and 
still later to two, but the offices of Special Superintendent 
of German Instruction and of Special Superintendent of 
Primary Instruction were created, and thus the work of 
superintendence was more specialized. By these new 
arrangements, the work of supervising instruction was 
wholly taken from the principals of buildings, as well as 
most general administrative duties ; it being the theory 
of the new organization to bring the teachers of all the 
schools into direct relations with the Superintendent and 
his assistants, and also the patrons of the schools so far as 
the more serious matters of administration were con- 
cerned. German was introduced into all the schools in 
1870; increased stress was also laid upon music and 
drawing. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 249 

Mr. Rickoff's principal assistants in the work of sui)er- 
vision were H. M. James and L. W. Day, supervising prin- 
cipals of districts, L. R. Klemm, and afterwards August J. 
Esch, as special superintendents of German ; Miss Harriet 
L. Keeler, and afterwards Miss Kate S. Brennan, as super- 
visors of primar}^ instruction , Mr Frank Aborn was 
special teacher of drawing; Mr. Stewart, already men- 
tioned, of music; first Mr. A. P. Root and then Mr. A. A. 
Clark, of penmanship ; L. C. Force of reading, who retired in 
1882 without having a successor. All these were faithful 
and efficient instructors and supervisors in their several 
places; especially was much of the great improvement in 
the primary grades due to Miss Keeler and Miss Brennan. 

One of the most valuable of Mr. Rickoff's new depart- 
ures was the Normal School, now called the Training 
School. This school was created by the Board in 1872, 
but did not go into operation until 1874. The purpose 
of this school was to furnish a supply of well-prepared 
teachers for the city schools, and nobly has it vindicated 
its establishment. Superintendent Hinsdale stated in his 
report for 1886 that of the six hundred and three teachers 
employed in the schools the year before, two hundred and 
forty were "Normals;" also that the school had strongly 
tended to raise the standard of general culture and of pro- 
fessional ability of the teachers. The successive principals 
have been Alexander Forbes, who had previously served 
several years in the schools in other capacities; Elroy M. 
Avery, who had been Superintendent of the East Cleveland 
schools before the annexation of that village to the citv, 
and the Principal of the East High School thereafter until 



250 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the union of the high schools in 1878 ; Oliver Arey, who 
had seen much good service in the Normal school work ; 
and Miss Ellen G. Reveley, the able incumbent since 1882. 
Superintendent Rickoff sawthe number of teachers in the 
schools increase from 123 to 473, and the number of pupils 
from 9,643 to 26,990. As respects attendance, the growth 
of the upper grades of the grammar schools and of the 
high schools was even greater than the growth of the 
grades below. To a degree, the growth of attendance 
was due to annexations to the city ; East Cleveland came 
in in 1872 and Newburg in 1874, the first with a full- 
fledged school system of its own, and the second with a 
system developed to the second year of the high school 
course. Mr. and Mrs. Elroy M. Avery had been called to 
the East Cleveland schools in 1871, he as Superintendent, 
she as Principal of the High School. The schools thrived 
under their care, and at the time of the union there were 
in the corporation six schools, seventeen teachers, and an 
enrollment per year of about one thousand pupils. After 
the union of the schools was consummated in January, 
1873, Mr. Avery acted as Principal of the East High 
school until the corisolidation of the East Side High 
Schools in 1878, when he became Principal of the Normal 
School. At the time of the consolidation, the annual at- 
tendance at the East High School was from eighty to one 
hundred pupils. The Newburg annexation brought into 
the city system the Walnut and Broadwa^^ schools, a high 
school with a course of two years, about a dozen teachers, 
and an enrollment of about six hundred scholars. 
In this period the schools received many flattering notices. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 251 

At the Vienna exposition a diploma was awarded them, 
mainly on the ground of plans of buildings submitted b}' 
Mr. Rickofif. Mr. Rickoff nlso received a medal for the 
same plans. Sir Charles Reed placed the Cleveland schools 
at the head of his list of American schools in his report to 
the Committee of Council on Education for England ; the 
French Commissioners preferred the Cleveland school- 
houses to all American competitors; and Professor Bon- 
amj Price, the Oxford political economist, was so enthusi- 
astic as to say in England, "The best schools which are 
to be found in America, and therefore in the world, are to 
be found in Cleveland." 

VIL— SUPERINTENDENT HINSDALE's ADMINISTRATION, 

1882-1886. 

Mr. B. A. Hinsdale, who was widely known in educa- 
tional circles as President of Hiram College, v/as called to 
the superintendency on Mr. Rickoff's retirement. In his 
final report, Mr. Hinsdale states that on assuming the 
duties of the office he accepted the external organization 
of the schools, and made no attempts at change of system; 
that what the schools needed was more fruitful instruction, 
a more elastic regimen, and a freer spirit; and that he set 
himself to accomplish this work through the minds of 
the teachers, their knowledge, views and ideals, and not 
by the use of mechanical methods. He continued to work 
on this line until the close of his superintendency. There 
is no better gauge of the growth of the cit\^ in some of the 
best elements of life, and particularly of the growing ap- 
preciation of the public schools and of the success of Mr. 



252 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Hinsdale's administration, than a statistical summary 
found in the report just referred to. 

In the periods 1882-1 886 the number of pupils ern'olled in 
the schools increased from 26,990 to 32,814-, and the aver- 
age daily attendance from 18,676 to 23,595; the pupils in 
the primarx' grades increased from 18,969 to 22,64-3; in 
the grammar grades from 6,975 to 8,682; in the German 
department from 8,951 to 12,266; in the high schools 
from 1,005 to 1,399; in the Training school from 40 
to 90; the total number of pupils registered in the 
schools increased only 21.6 percent., but the average daily 
attendance increased 26.2 per cent. ; the primar\^ pupils 
increased 20 per cent., the grammar pupils 25 per cent., 
and the High school pupils 40 per cent. These facts show 
conclusively that the youth of the city in those years were 
remaining longer in the schools, and were more and more 
feeling their power. 

This administration was remarkable for the number and 
character of new school-houses erected ; fourteen excellent 
buildings containing 137 rooms, exclusive of mere recita- 
tion rooms, seating 8,250 pupils, were built at a cost, 
including lots, of more than $700,000. 

Particular attention should be drawn to the growth of 
night schools in the period now under consideration. In 
the winter 1882-1883 there was but one such school, 
counting one hundred or more pupils, and this school 
was not wholly supported by the cit}^; in the winter 
1885-1886 there were nine such schools, with twent}-- 
three teachers, and a total enrollment of 1,530 pupils, all 
supported by the city. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 253 

The spirit of Mr. Hinsdale's management of the schools 
was well stated by Mr. E. A. Schellentrager, in his report 
as president of the Board of which he was a veteran mem- 
ber, on Mr. Hinsdale's retirement. 

I regard the period of his administration as one of the most 
beneficent in the historj' of onr schools. Qualified by thorough and 
comprehensive knowledge, and enthusiastically devoted to his calling 
as an educator, he succeeded in inspiring the faculty of teachers with 
enthusiasm for their difficult and responsible work, and in inducing them 
to continue with avidity the development of their own attainments. 
Opposed to all superficiality of training, he strove indefatigably against 
all mere mechanism in school instruction, and though many of his eff"orts 
were for the first time apparently fruitless and unsuccessful, yet it is 
proper to attribute to him the merit of having sown seed w^hich shall cer- 
tainly spring up and bear beneficent fruit in the future. 

At the beginning of Mr. Hinsdale's term, Mr. H. M. 
James, long an able supervisor, retired from the schools to 
accept the superintendency at Omaha, Nebraska, and dur- 
ing that time Miss Clara B. Umbstaetter was added to the 
supervising force. OnMr. Hinsdale's retirement, Mr. L. W. 
Day, who had served long and faithfully as a supervisor, 
was chosen Superintendent. 

VIIL— SUMMARY AND REMARKS. 

Many points of interest have been omitted in the pre- 
ceding history, and some of them will now be noticed. 

At first, the members of the School Board were chosen by 
the Common Council. In 1859 the election was intrusted 
to the people; each ward was now entitled to a member, 
and one-half the wards elected every year. This rule pre- 
vailed until 1885, when there were twenty-five members 



254 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

of the Board. In the winter of 1885-86, the city having 
been divided into forty wards, a law was obtained from 
the Legislature making twenty districts, two wards and 
one member to a district, elected as before at the municipal 
election. Since that time the Board has consisted of 
twenty members. 

The result of the new departure of 1859 has been that, 
in almost every instance, members of the Board have been 
elected on party tickets. But the law of that ^^ear did not 
free the Board from the Council. It was still the duty of 
the Council to support the schools. The Board certified 
to the Council an estimate of the amount needed for 
school purposes ; but it was the business of the Council to 
levy the amount, more or less, as it should elect, subject 
only to the State law. The Board employed the teachers 
and managed the schools, but it could not expend more than 
fifty dollars for furniture or repairs on any one school build- 
ing without the consent of the Council first obtained. Simi- 
larly, the Council approved the boundaries of school dis- 
tricts. In 1865 the Board was emancipated from the 
Council in all particulars but one. The Board now recom- 
mended the purchase of new school sites and the building of 
new school buildings when it deemed them necessary, and 
it was the duty of the Council to act promptly on each 
recommendation, and, incase of approval, to provide funds 
to carrv the same into effect. The Board could now lew 
taxes for all school purposes but the one just mentioned. 
In 1873 even this restriction was removed, and the exclu- 
sive control of school matters was put in the Board's 
hands, subject only to the enactments of the Legislature. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 255 

This continued to be the law until the creation of the Tax 
Commission, which has the same power over the Board ot 
Education that it has over the other branches of the city 
government. 

The Board of Managers were the examiners of teachers 
for several years. The Superintendent did the work from 
1853 to 1859. From 1859 to 1873 there was an examin- 
ing board of three persons, and since 1873 of six ap- 
pointed by the Board of Education. Messrs. A. G. Hop- 
kinson, L. W. Ford, and J. H. Rhodes have served on this 
Board so long that they seem permanent parts of the 
school machinery. 

Of the great army of able teachers who have taught 
in the Cleveland schools, a large number have attained 
higher distinction in other places, either in education or in 
some other profession. 

The influence of the Cleveland schools has been felt far 
and near; they have stimulated the building of better 
school-houses, the paying of better salaries to teachers and 
superintendents, the revision of courses of stud}', the eleva- 
tion of the standard of scholarship, and the quickening 
of teachers not only in Ohio but also in regions far beyond 
the borders of Ohio. 

The Superintendent was elected ever\^ year until 1868, 
since then for tw^o years at a time. For several years fol- 
lowing 1867 the salary was $4,000, but after the com- 
mercial crisis of 1873 it was reduced to $3,300, w^here it 
has since remained. 

Tne following table exhibits the schools from four differ- 



256 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



ent interesting points of view from 1836 to 1886, in- 
clusive, at periods of five years . 



Year. 



1836. 
1841. 
1846. 
1851. 
1856. 
1861. 
1866. 
1871. 
1876. 
1881. 
1886. 



Enumeration 




Average 


Number 


ot 
Yovith. 


Registered. 


Daily 
Attendance. 


ot 
Teachers. 


* 


229 




3 


3,455 


1,500 


936 


15 


6,742 


2,304 


1,650 


32 


12,998 


4,734 


3,310 


68 


14,625 


5,081 


3,962 


83 


18,607 


8.315 


5,333 


115 


34,544 


13,184 


8,174 


188 


47.043 


20,771 


14,069 


326 


52,401 


24,836 


17,016 


448 


61,654 


32,814 


23,595 


603 



* No reports can he found. 

The report of the president of the Board for 1885 con- 
tains a very interesting table showing the receipts and 
expenditures of the Board of Education from 1870 to 
1885, with other information. It appears that in that 
period the tax duplicate increased from $36,553,522 to 
$86,285,845; the school levy from four mills to six mills; 
the local tax from $141,834 to $498,521, and the total 
income, not counting bonds sold, from $189,948 to $589,- 
469. The salaries paid to teachers and officers, not count- 
ing janitors, grew from $124,491 to $364,199. The 
Board's gross revenues for the sixteen A^ears were $6,327,- 
769, and the gross expenditures, $6,401,827. The Board 
paid an aggregate of $3,858,223 to teachers, counting by 
years, 347,584 pupils were registered in the schools, and 
the average tuition per year was $11.00. 

The same report gives some interesting facts in regard 
to school-house building. Prospect building, 1840; Ken- 
tucky, 1852; Mayflower, 1854; Eagle, 1855; Hicks and 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 257 

Alabama, 1858; Brownell, 1865; Bolton, 1868. The other 
buildings are arranged under their respective years. 



1869. 1870. 


1873. 


1874. 1876. 


Orchard, Garden, 


Tremont. 


Outhwaite. Case. 


Rockwell, Detroit. 






Warren, 






St. Clair. 






1878. 1879. 


1880. 


1881. 


Central High. Walton. 


Tremont Addition. Rockwell Relief, 






Broadway. 


1883. 


1884. 


1885. 


Buhrer, 


Dunham, 


Clark, 


Dike. 


Fowler, 


Kinsman, 




Hicks Relief, 


Sibley, 




Lincoln, 


Stanard, 




Marion, 


Sumner, 




West High. 


Waverly. 



At the present time five buildings that will contain 
sLxty rooms and accommodate three thousand children, 
are going up in various parts of the city. 

The Clerk's report for 1886 shows that he keeps account 
with sixty different schools. We have no statement of 
the number of school buildings owned by the Board, or 
the estimated value of the real estate in its possession; 
but the first are numbered by the score, and the second b}^ 
several millions. 

For the school year 1885-1886 the total income of the 
schools from taxes was $614,526, the total income from 
all sources $789,957, the difference between the two 
amounts being mainly derived from bonds sold. The 
expenditures for the same year were $700,622. 



258 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Two schools that belong to the city, but that do not be- 
long to the jurisdiction of the Board of Education, are the 
Industrial School on Detroit street beyond the city limits, 
and the House of Refuge School at the Work-House; both 
of them well managed and of great usefulness. 

For many years there were small school libraries in nearly 
all the public school buildings, provided by the enterprises 
of pupils and teachers. The Public L brary originated 
in the legislation of 1853 making provision for school 
libraries throughout the State; and although it has for 
many years had an independent legal footing, its relations 
to the schools are still intimate. The Board of Education 
appoint the Library managers. The home of the Library 
and the educational headquarters are very appropriately 
in the same building. The circulation and reference depart- 
ments reach a large number of school children and teachers, 
and do a vast amount of good. At present the income of 
the Library is twenty thousand dollars annually, and the 
number of volumes is somewhat less than fifty thousand. 

Such a history' as this cannot enter verj- deepl}^ into the 
inner life of the schools; it must necessarily deal mainly 
with external facts. Mr. Freese, in his history, touches 
some phases of the subject in a way that is, to a teacher, 
both suggestive and amusing: 

Schools and their methods are varied, like many other things, to 
conform to popular notions, or to what is, for the time, the prevailing 
style. There was a time when Parley's histories were a "new discov- 
ery " in adaption, and every child capable of reading was set to learning 
the history of the Uv.ited States. The style of imparting oral instruction 
to children was in imitation of "Peter Parley." Then there was a 
period of mental arithmetic— great attention was given to the study. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 259 

The book of boo ks was declared to b Colburn's ' First Lessons,' and his 
method was universally adopted as the true method. There was, too, 
a black-board era, when black-board exercises were made a great feature 
in every school, and the eye was constantly addressed. Of the Cleveland 
schools, it may be said that the Peter Parle\' period reached from their 
organization to about the year 1846. Mental arithmetic held its way 
for twenty years, reaching its culmination in the years preceding 1860. 
Black-boards, wide and long, for the simviltaneous exercises of whole 
classes, began to be used in 1845. They were used with great enthusi- 
asm in 1850, and reached their highest appreciation and widest use a few 
years later. In each of these periods, teachers fancied they had hit upon 
a very excellent thing, and that it would, without doubt, be an abiding 
good. In the succession of changes it was lost, or went out of fashion — 
none could sa^' when, or how, or for what reason. 

This history, covering the ground occupied by the fiftj^ 
annual school reports, reveals, at least on the material 
side, the grand proportions to which the system has at- 
tained, and it shows, to a degree, the hold that the schools 
have on the intellect and heart of the people. These 
are made an invaluable power in the life of the city by the 
labors of a cultivated and devoted corps of teachers. 
Superintendent Hinsdale said in 1886: 

The public school teachers of this city now ai'e six hundred strong. To 
build up this corps of teachers — to choose its material, to give it discipline, 
to establish its traditions, to create its atmosphere and esprit de corps — 
has been the work of fifty years. A few years, or even months, might 
suffice to impair its usefulness or even to destroy it altogether. If politics 
or favoritism be allowed to recruit its ranks, or to regulate its discipline, 
the results will be disastrous. In the work of no other equal number of 
persons — neither business men nor professional men — has the city a 
greater interest. 



As a pendant to this history of the public schools, very 
brief accounts will be given of other agencies that have 



260 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

contributed to carrying on educational work in the 
city. 

First, the parochial schools of the Catholic church. 
These occupy a large number of school buildings, com- 
monly located near the churches; they employ a large 
corps of teachers, and provide instruction for about twelve 
thousand pupils. The education furnished in these schools 
is supplemented by other schools under the control of the 
church, as the Ursuline Academy on Euclid avenue. The 
diocese of Cleveland stands well among Catholic dioceses 
for its educational facilities. 

There are also parochial schools in connection with some 
of the German Protestant churches. Abouttwothousand 
children are taught in these. Before German was taught 
in all the grades of the public schools, the attendance upon 
these schools was relatively much larger than now. 

Private schools have also done a good work in Cleve- 
land. We find in the annals of the city mention of many 
such schools that no longer exist. Cleveland Seminary 
for Young Ladies, on Woodland avenue, long presided over 
by Mr. Sanford, and Humiston's School, on the South Side, 
are well remembered. Of living schools the most promi- 
nent are the Cleveland Academy, at one time under the 
charge of Miss Guilford, later of Mr. I. P. Bridgman ; Miss 
Mittleberger's School for Young Ladies, and Miss Brown's, 
formerlv Miss Fisher's school. It is believed that less than 
one thousand pupils attend private schools of all kinds in 
the city. 

Brooks School, named for its founder, Rev. Frederick 
Brooks, at the time rector of St. Paul's church, was or- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 261 

ganized in IST-i, and has done an excellent work in the 
fields of primary, grammar, and academical instruction. 
A considerable number of Cleveland boys have been fitted 
for coliege at this school. Professor A. H. Thompson has 
been for some years the efficient Principal. 

About the 3'ear 1850 the Cleveland University was 
launched. Dr. Asa Mahan, who had been president of 
Oberlin College for many years, was its president. At first 
the university found a home in a building on Otitario street ; 
but a new building— and a fine building for those times — 
w^ as constructed for its accommodation on the South Side. 
Dr. Mahan brought great ability and enthusiasm to his 
work ; he was supported by an able corps of teachers, but 
the university lacked financial backing, and after a struggle 
of two or three years, and graduating one class, it ceased 
to exist. The building was afterwards occupied by Hum- 
iston's School, and then by the Homceopathic Hospital. 
One of the wings still stands on University street. 

In 1876 Mr. Leonard Case executed a deed of trust set- 
ting apart certain real property to establish and endow a 
school to be called the Case School of Applied Science. 
After Mr. Case's death in 1880, the school was incorpo- 
rated, and in 1881 was organized on a small scale on Rock- 
well street. In 1885 it was transferred to an elegant 
building provided forits accommodation at the East End. 
This building was nearly destroyed by fire in October, 1886, 
but is now again approaching completion. The name of 
this school describes the field that it occupies. Its superior 
material facilities, fine faculty, and large endowment are 
its promise of great usefulness in the future. 



262 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

In 1880 Mr. Amasa Stone offered to give Western Re- 
serve College, that had been carrying on collegiate work 
of a high order at Hudson since its foundation in 1826, 
five hundred thousand dollars— one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars to be used in the erection of suitable 
buildings, and three hundred and fift}' thousand dollars to 
be added to the permanent endowment funds of the col- 
lege—provided : (1) the college should be removed to 
Cleveland; (2) the citizens of Cleveland would give suita- 
ble grounds for its use; and (3) the name should be 
changed to Adelbert College of Western Reserve Univer- 
sity. These considerations were all complied with, and in 
the autumn of 1882 the old college with a new name, a 
strengthened faculty, and largely augmented funds, moved 
into the beautiful building that it now occupies at the East 
End, where it holds high aloft the standard of superior 
instruction. 

The Medical College on Erie street, founded in 1844 
under the charter of Western Reserve College, now a part 
of Western Reserve University, has long ranked with the 
best medical schools of the West. Its greatly enlarged 
accommodations, provided by the generosity of Mr. J. L. 
Woods, will enable it to take a higher rank in the future. 
The Homoeopathic Hospital College, founded in 1850, is 
one of the best schools of that practice in the country. It 
is also the second in respect to age. The Medical Depart- 
ment of Wooster University is much younger than either 
of its competitors, but is, no doubt, destined to grow with 
the institution of which it is a part. 

For many years there was a law college in Cleveland. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 263 

but it never flourished and some years ago became extinct. 

Of business colleges, first and last, there have been sev- 
eral ; but mention can be made of only the Spencerian Col- 
lege, the strongest of them all, and never more flourishing 
than now. 

Cleveland has much of which to be proud — her location, 
railroad facilities, manufactures, trade, streets, homes, 
and churches; but of nothing, has she greater reason to 
be proud than of her educational institutions, public and 
private. 



264. HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



MUNICIPAL FINANCES. 



FROM STATISTICS FURNISHED BY THOMAS 
JONES, JR. 

PRIOR to 1871 the duties now pertaining to the office 
of City Auditor were discharged by the City Clerk, 
and were regarded by the coordinate branches of the city 
government and b\' the incumbent of the office as wholly 
clerical in character. The clerk was a mere pa^^-master, 
issuing his warrants on the treasury on the mandate of 
the City Council, without question and without responsi- 
bility beyond such as might incidentally attach to any 
merely clerical duty ; and we find periodical groans in the 
annual messages of two decades of mayors, as w^ell as in 
the reports of more than one Special Committee of Inves- 
tigation, because no records were kept from which the 
exact financial standing of the city or thecondition of any 
of the funds could be ascertained. ^ * 
Each of the several departments of the city government 

* See notes beginning on page 2 — . 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAxND. 265 

was managed by a Standing Committee of the City Council, 
or b}^ a Board of Directors, Trustees or Commissioners, 
and these subsidiary bodies, acting entirely indepen- 
dent of each other and practically without accountabil- 
ity, check or restraint, not onU' disbursed the funds appro- 
priated for the maintenance of the department under 
their control, as their judgment or caprice might elect, 
but unhesitatingly incurred obligations far in excess of 
legalized expenditure. Under such a system — or rather 
entire lack of system — the exact, or even an approximate 
showing could be made onU' at the end of each fiscal year. 

Under such conditions a history of mimicipal finance 
must be sought for in fragmentary entries, carelessly made 
in indifferenth^ kept records of the departments ; we shall 
look in vain for comprehensive or satisfactory data else- 
where, and inasmuch as a narrative compiled from such 
sources would convey no moral whatever, and be at best 
but a compendium of statistics, without significance, the 
date referred to may be justly regarded as that at which a 
financial policy was inaugurated. 

It is no serious reflection upon any officer or body of the 
corporation, occupying place prior to the time named, to 
thus summarily dispose of their stewardship; man\' of 
them were men of sterling worth and high standing; they 
but followed precedent ; the business h^id been conducted 
in the same manner since the incorporation as a cit\' in 
1836, and the necessit}^ for, or even the advisability of a 
change had not occurred to them, at least not with suffi- 
cient force or directness to incite a reformation. The cry 
for "Reform " had not vet been heard in the land, and the 



266 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

local magnates regarded their personal integrit}^ and the 
excellence of their individual judgments as an ample guar- 
anty of able management and honest administration, 
without the restraints of a systematic conduct of affairs. 
A liberal, open-handed, "go-as-you-please" spirit pre- 
vailed ; an}^ question as to payment of the debt being 
accumulated annually was met with the scriptural injunc- 
tion, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," and 
bonds became a panacea for the evil when the day of pay- 
ment arrived. 

In April, 1871, the office of City Auditor was created, 
and Thomas Jones, Jr., was elected to the position. Hav- 
ing been for a number of years a member of the Board of 
Education and of the City Council, he had acquired a fair 
knowledge of municipal business, and was keenly alive to 
the defective manner of administering the public trust. 
With his experience, supplemented by rare executive abil- 
itv, inherent integrity, an indomitable will power and an 
abundant self-reliance, the newly elected auditor entered 
upon his duties, and the histor^^ of Cleveland's mtmicipal 
finances had a beginning. 

Mr. Jones' eminent fitness for the position demonstrated 
itself at the outset in the energy displayed in organizing 
the department. His clear understanding of the situation, 
his immediate adoption of means to remedy existing 
defects, and his unswerving adherence to sound business 
principles were invaluable in that emergency, and to him 
is due the credit not onh' of devising a systematic man- 
agement but of rescuing the city from a course which, if 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 267 

persisted in, must have culminated in disaster and bank- 
ruptcy. 

The prejudices engendered by long usage and precedent, 
and the tenacious grip of "time honored custom" invited 
lively opposition to the radical innovations proposed by 
Mr. Jones, and greatly retarded the w^ork; to such an ex- 
tent, in fact, was this hostility to change or modification 
pensisted in that in one notable instance, that of the Water- 
Works department, the changes and reforms then urged 
by Mr. Jones, as requisite to a unified system, are still 
being urged upon the attention of the Legislature, the 
Council and the public generally, but with the ever recur- 
ring, strenuous and, thus far, successful opposition of the 
Water- Works directorj^ and officials. That this depart- 
ment must sooner or later be brought into line, and be 
held to some accountability is inevitable; that it should 
so long have maintained its independence from restraint 
or supervision, is a striking example of the power of per- 
sistent and determined effort in a given direction, when 
exercised by adepts in the science of manipulation. - 

Opposition to the new order of things developed in every 
branch of the service, extending even into the City Council, 
Avliere remarks, tinctured at times with acrimony, engen- 
dered by disappointment at the failure of a pet measure, 
were not infrec^uently directed at the auditor. The press 
of the city indulged at times in adverse criticism, but 
the course marked out was rigidly adhered to. It has 
stood the test of time, and in its essential elements is still the 
rule of management in the department of city finance. 
The system of records and accounts, the devising of which 



268 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

was but a detail of the labor involved, has triumphantly 
withstood the test of expert investigation and inspection, 
instigated by no friendly animus. 

To limit the annual expenditure in ever3^ department to 
the amount appropriated to its use, constitutes the key- 
note of municipal finances. This principle has been accepted 
in theory from the outset, but had never been adopted as 
a factor in the practical administration of city affairs. 
Mr. Jones, however, essaj-ed the task of reducing thetheorv 
to practice, and this aroused the opposition already re- 
ferred to. 

It was not until the fall of 1873 that a fitting opportu- 
nity presented itself for an open attack upon the prevalent 
custom, and an explicit announcement of a purpose to 
follow a given line of procedure. On the ninth of Sep- 
tember, 1873, a resolution was introduced into the City 
Council and referred to the City Auditor, providing for the 
issue of bonds to the amount of sixty-four thousand dol- 
lars, "which was expended from th^Fire Department fund 
for improvements therein, in the Sixteenth and Seven- 
teenth wards, by reason of the terms of annexation of 
said wards (the village of East Cleveland) to the city." 
After showing that the terms of annexation had been 
agreed to subsecpient to the date at which the amount 
appropriated for fire department purposes had been 
fixed, and that, consecjuenth', no provision had been 
made for this expenditure, the auditor, in his report 
upon the resolution, sa3's: "The fact of these contin- 
uous overdrafts from the various funds ^ points to one 
of two legitimate conclusions, namelv: that the vari- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 269 

ous departments specified are either too expensively 
managed, or that the levy for municipal purposes is too 
small to meet the necessary current expenditures of the 
city. Hence the deduction is inevitable that the Council 
must either curtail the ordinary current expenses, or that 
an increased levy must be authorized to provide for them. 
In any case the financial credit of the city demands that 
no expenditures be made, or liabilities of any kind incurred, 
bevond the authorized means of liquidating them. It is a 
clear and unmistakable violation of our municipal code 
for the Council to incur any liabilities in excess of the cur- 
rent revenues of the city, and no warrants on the treasury 
can legally be drawn by the auditor, unless the money to 
pay such warrant is already in the treasury, and to the 
credit of the proper fund to which it should be charged.'* 
The embarrassment under which I have labored in meeting 
this question hitherto, has arisen from the very fact that 
when I first entered upon the duties of my oflSce the funds 
of the departments referred to (Fire, Police, House of 
Refuge, Infirmary, Street and Gas funds) and of some 
others, even including the interest account at times, had 
been continuously overdrawn for years. . . . But if the 
plain letter and spirit of the law shall continue, as hereto- 
fore, to be violated in incurring liabilities for any depart- 
ment, for the payment of which there are no funds in the 
treasury, the auditor, in the plain and legal discharge of 
his duties, will feel obliged to take his stand, as it is his 
determination to do, and refuse to issue warrants on any 
fund whose resources are exhausted.'' 
In order to impress this matter more fully upon the minds 



270 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

of heads of departments, and to caution them against a 
violation of this principle, a full statement of the condition 
of each fund, showing the resources, was prepared by the 
auditor and published, before the expiration of each fiscal 
year, with such comments as seemed pertinent at the time. 
In 1875 the principle was fully vindicated, and in his 
annual report for that year, under date, March 21, 1876, 
the auditor gives utterance to the following: 

Thus, in spite of the prophecies adverse to the system, and to its prac- 
ticability of restricting the current expenditures of the city to a point 
actually below current revenues, the result of the past j^ear has estab- 
lished, for the second time only in the history- of this city, not the prac- 
ticability alone, but the complete success of the principle adopted tv^o 
years ago, in exact conformity to the requirements of the law. 

The costh' result of departing from this principle is shown by the accu- 
mulating, from a comparatively small overdraft at first, of a funded 
debt against the cit\% which by the continued increase, occurring within 
the past ten or twelve years only, consisting almost exclusively of 
these overdrafts for current expenses, now amounts to no less than 
$1,822,000! The penalty which the city pays annually in interest for 
this so-called "liberal" style of managing cit3' affairs is no less than 
$127,400. 

Such was the clearly expressed sentiment of the auditor, 
in his annual report for the year 1874. 

The following compilations will, in a measure, illustrate 
the practical results of the change brought about : 

On the first of January, 1872, the overdrafts aggregated 
$269,766.31. 

In 1873 the expenditures exceeded the receipts by 
$248,362.78, the overdrafts in twelve of the funds 
amounting to $416,612.05, as follows : 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 271 

Fire Department $95,760.26 

Infirmary 6,196.71 

House of Correction 36,195.51 

Cemeteries 5,265.45 

Streets 39,798.43 

Gas 79,516.00 

Brido^es 21,964.30 

Police Court 31,085.11 

Dredging 27,269.45 

Parks 599.66 

Superior Court 2,229.07 

Police Department 70,773.10 

In April and Ma3^ 1874-, funded debt bonds to the 
amount of $400,000 were issued to cover the deficit, and 
on Januar\^ 1, 1875, the city started in with a credit bal- 
ance to all the funds, the Cemetery and Superior Court 
funds excepted, amounting to $261,048.48. 

The net credit balances, cash in the treasury, on the first 
day of January, and the expenditures for each year are 
shown in the following table : 



, Year. 


Cr. Balance. 


Disbursements 
for Ordinary 
Expenses of 

City 
Government. 


Total Dis- 
bursements for 
General Funds, 

Including 
Interest. 


1876 


$ 274,444.84 

253,927.33 

220,557.22 

273 224.79 

2,464,897.22 

2,124,817.15 

1,817,738.86 

1,683,311.29 

666,960.27 

809,955.28 

766,711.50 

891,002.28 


$ 930,748.12 

888,488.29 

783,392.35 

732,200.44 

784,017.62 

811,651.08 

845,306.19 

909,301.80 

1,060,282.32 

1,127,577.30 

1,133,344.08 


$1,683,634.36 
1,464,329.13 
1,679,003.61 
1,343,770.81 
1,369,671.17 
1 377 121 12 


1877 


1878 


1879 


1880 


1881 


1882 


1 466 438 53 


1883 


1,605,567.72 
2 345 316 06 


1884 


1885 


2,306,586.66 
2,004,286.39 


1886 


1887 



J, (J, HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Another practice, alike pernicious and subversive of law 
and a proper consideration of the rights of the taxpayer, 
had been freely indulged in. namely that of directing by 
simple Council resolution the payment of public mone\' for 
purposes entirely foreign to that for which it had been 
levied, and which were in no sense included in the catalogue 
of municipal obligations. Of this character was a resolu- 
tion unanimously adopted b}^ the City Council, October 
31, 1871, instructing the auditor "to place all bills for the 
purchase of such articles as have been made for the benefit 
of the sufferers by the Chicago fire, when properh- approved 
by the appointed committee, in thenext claims ordinance." 
Sentiment and finance did not assimilate, and the auditor 
promptly declined to draw the warrant, because there were 
no funds in the treasury for the purpose. The urgent de- 
mand of the mayor, of the president of the Council and 
of the chairman of the Finance Committee preferred in some- 
what arbitrary terms, failed to secure the requisite signa- 
ture of the auditor.* The visitation of the plague at the 
city of Memphis in 1873, and the appeal for aid in that 
behalf, brought forth a resolution, adopted by the City 
Council, October 28, 1873, after receiving the approval and 
recommendation of the Committees on Finance and on 
Judiciary, directing the auditor to draw a warrant on the 
city treasury for three thousand dollars in response to the 
appeal. The press of the cit}' commended both of these 
measures, and a heavy pressure otherwise was brought to 
bear upon the auditor, but the result was identical with 
that of the Chicago project ; the warrant was not drawn. 

* A large amount was afterwards raised by private subscription. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 273 

This was, so far as the records show, the last attempt 
made to draw money from the city treasury for purposes 
other than for which it was collected. 

Affairs in the City Treasurer's department had been con- 
ducted in unison with the manner of the other depart- 
ments, and no attempt whatever seems to have been made 
or thought of, whereby the city should be placed on a footing 
which its solvency and ability to meet its obligations en- 
titled it to in financial circles. When money was recjuired 
temporary loans were made, for the use of which ten per 
cent, was demanded and cheerfully paid. Frequent emer- 
gencies were met by frequent loans, and a history- of the 
epoch, if such a history could be compiled, would be an 
interesting chapter to the student in finance. In 1869 Mr. 
S. T. Everett was elected City Treasurer, and immediately 
thereon a new order of things was inaugurated . ^ Educated 
and trained as a banker, Mr. Everett brought to the office 
a knowledge and experience which were invaluable, and 
which during the fourteen years of his incumbency were 
instrumental in placing the city's credit upon a secure 
foundation, enabling it to negotiate its bonds on excep- 
tionalbv' favorable terms, Mr. Everett himself negotiating 
the securities at the eastern money centers.''' The ten per 
cent, temporary loans were at once called in and the money 
secured at seven percent., and during Mr. Everett's admin- 
istration Cleveland city bonds became "gilt edged" secur- 
ities, and brought higher rates than those of any other 
city in the west.^ 

When the perplexing questions arising from the struggle 
made by property owners against the assessments for spe- 



274 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

cial improvements confronted the city's officials, and it be- 
came necessary to meet a novel emergency, Mr. Everett 
did not hesitate to stand by his convictions, and in con- 
junction with the auditor carry out a policy which, while 
possibly not within the literal purview of the law, unques- 
tionably saved to the city thousands of dollars in interest, 
and that too when adherence to the strict letter of the law 
would have relieved him of much labor and responsibilit}-, 
and indirectly have inured to his profit. ^ 

Mayor N. P. Payne, during his term of office, 1875 and 
1876, gave much time and consideration to the city's 
finances, and the impress of his knowledge, experience and 
judgment may be found in many pages of the current 
record of his day and generation. 

The debt of the city has, in its growth, been in a fair ratio 
with the increase in population, and the consequent aug- 
mented demand for enlarged facilities, greater conveniences 
and added luxuries, as a close study of the question will 
show. An unusual increase of the debt in any given year, 
period of years, will be found to follow a period of very or 
apparent inactivity, and it is altogether fair to assume 
that the inactivity was rather the result of a policy which 
ignored the needs of the hour, in the matter of improve- 
ments, than one of unusually wise or economical adminis- 
tration. While it is true that the charge of extravagance 
may, in some instances, be well grounded, and the fact 
conceded that the municipal coffers have been despoiled of 
many dollars by the action of its own citizens in taking 
advantage of the unpardonable carelessness and reprehen- 
sible ignorance of officials in the matter of special assess- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 275 

ments, levied for street openings, extensions etc., yet it 
must be admitted that, taken in its entirety, the debt has 
been well earned and a fair quid pro quo secured. In no 
instance has the debt been increased by the dishonest prac- 
tice, or to the personal profit of an official. 

A comparison of the debt of this with that of other cities 
will probably place the matter in a clearer light than any 
array of figures, compiled wholly from the ledgers at the 
City Hall, could do, and to that end the following com- 
parative statement of the debt, per capita, is taken from 
the Auditor's Annual Report, 1878: 

Boston 1877 $ 83 

Cambridge, Mass 1877 86 

Worcester, Mass 1877 59 

Portland, Me 1877 144 

Hartford, Conn 1877 78 

New Haven, Conn 1877 15 

Providence, R. 1 1876 66 

Albany, N. Y 1877 41 

Baltimore, Md 1877 78 

Brooklyn, N. Y 1877 73 

Rochester, N. Y 1877 62 

Buffalo, N. Y 1877 58 

Cleveland, 1878 24 

Cincinnati, O 1877 88 

Toledo, O 1877 70 

Detroit, Mich 1877 23 

Louisville, Ky 1877 45 

Milwaukee, Wis 1877 22 

Chicago, Ills 1877 43 

St. Louis, Mo 1877 51 

It will be seen from this that the city's debt was very 
much below the average of that of the twenty cities 



276 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

named ; the average per capita being over $60, or two 
and a half times greater than that of Cleveland. The debt 
was then at its maximum point, being but $200,000 less 
than the highest point ever attained. On the basis of a 
present population of 225,000 the debt per capita, Janu- 
ary 1, 1887, is $36.42. 

By a somewhat unique schedule, embodied in the annual 
message of Mayor W. G. Rose, presented to the City 
Council April 15, 1878, the assets of the city are enumer- 
ated as follows : 

Armory and lot $ 20,000.00 

Bridges and appurtenances ••••• 293,000.00 

Canal lands 300,000.00 

Fire department, real estate and equipments 368,870.00 

Infirmary farm and improvements 163,673.00 

Lake View Park 307,396.00 

Land, forty-three miscellaneous parcels 79,604.00 

Market grounds and buildings 156.295.00 

Police department, real estate and equipments 157,268.85 

Pest-House and farm 30,000.00 

School department, real estate and equipments 1,590,654.00 

Viaduct 2,135,000.00 

Water-Works, real estate and equipments 2,392,029.00 

Work-House, grounds, buildings and equipments 231,633.00 

Total $8,225,422.85 

To which should have been added the value of the securi- 
ties and other assets held by the Sinking Fund Commis- 
sioners, to wit: $2,109,357.21, making a grand total of 
$10,334,580.06. The general bonded debt of the city at 
the time was $6,061,000.00. 

The total indebtedness of the city, including bonds, city 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 277 

notes and certified estimates outstanding, and the amomit 
of overdrawn balances, on the first day of January of the 
years named, is here given: 

1872 $4,130,506.11 

1S73 5,550,648.48 

1874 6,016,093.36 

1875 7,941,832.00 

1876 8,957,702.38 

1877 9,442,572.56 

1878 9,358,831.26 

1879 9,539,836.84 

1880 8,751,595.10 

1881 8,066,938.80 

1882 7,343,419.11 

1883 '. 7,120,213.56 

1884 7,051,361.62 

1885 7,313,997.55 

1886 7,774,179.30 

1887 8,195,842.51 

The present debt of the city, July 1, 1887, is $8,327,- 
449.82 ;9 a decrease of $1,212,387.02 from the highest 
point reached, 1879. 

The bonded debt is divided as follows : 

Water-Works $1,775,000 

Funded Debt 1,909,000 

Infirmar,v 6,000 

Monumental Park 30,000 

Lake View Park 285,000 

Wade Park 7,000 

Canal 275,000 

Viaduct 2,138,000 

Kingsbur^^ Bridge 215,000 

General Bonds 250,000 



278 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

School 85,000 

Elevated Roadway 335,000 

Pearl Street Bridge 10,000 

Total General Bonds 7,320,000 

Street Improvements 383,000 

Street Damages 36,000 

Sewers 276,800 

Total $8,015,800 

Theee bonds are payable, as follows : 

1887 $629,800 

1888 316,800 

1889 550,600 

1890 273,000 

1891 309,000 

1892 679,700 

1893 585,000 

1894 624,000 

1895 637,000 

1896 802.000 

1897 751,000 

1898 698,000 

1899 125,000 

1900 365,000 

1901 235,000 

1902 210,000 

1903 100,000 

1904 125.000 

The general indebtedness was largely augmented by an 
apparent ignorance of the statutory requirements relating 
to assessments for special improvements, and by a repre- 
hensible failure to provide a prompt and adequate means 
for collecting assessments when made, on the part of the 
proper authorities. This ignorance and failure, added to 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 279 

the cupidity and moral turpitude of certain interested 
property owners, who did not hesitate to stultify them- 
selves (to use a mild term) when called upon to give evi- 
dence as to the assessable value of their propert}^ resulted 
in throwing upon the city at large a debt which these prop- 
erty owners were fully obligated, in equity, to pay.^^ On 
an aggregate assessment of $1,591,019.60, madeon prop- 
erty benefited by special improvements, the collection of 
$1,052,668.51 was enjoined by the courts on the petition 
of the property owners. Of the amount enjoined $373,- 
153.10 was on account of the Payne avenue opening, an 
improvement of questionable or at best trifling benefit 
to any one aside from the property owners through whose 
lands the street was laid, who petitioned for the improve- 
ment, were persistent and industrious in virging the 
passage of the necessary measures to carrv it into 
effect, and quite as quick to bring ever^- tcchnicalit}' 
into play to escape payment and place the burden upon 
the public at large. The same may be said of the Sherifi" 
street opening, and others of the seventeen special im- 
provements, the collection of the assessment for which 
was enjoined. The general bonded indebtedness of the 
city was increased to the amount of $1,027,435.98.11 
The passage of the "Burns Law,"" in 1876, fortunately 
put a stop to further blunders on the one hand and rank 
inconsistency on the other. ^ ^ 

The city having loaned its credit in good faith was legally 
and moralh^ bound to meet its obligations, and could not 
set up the claim that her own citizens sought to defraud 
her, as a bar against the claim of her creditors. The 



280 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

bonds for special improvements had been issued and must 
be paid on maturity. The means for this purpose having 
been cut off by the suits of injunction, other means must 
be provided. In the auditor's report for 1877 nearly all 
the special improvement accounts show a deficiency, 
marked overdrawn. The uncertainty as to the final de- 
cision of the courts was a disturbing element, which still 
further complicated matters. There was but one of two 
courses to pursue; to make another issue of bonds for the 
full amount of the obligations so unexpectedly cast upon 
the city, or to use the balances l\'ing idle in the treasury. 
Whether wisely or not the latter course was pursued, at 
first as a temporary expedient, and then pursued year 
after year, in the vain hope and expectation that the cases 
in court might be settled or terminated, or that other 
means might be provided for canceling the obligation. 
The City Auditor and Treasurer in assuming this responsi- 
bility, which they did in the conviction that a very con- 
siderable portion of this debt would remain as a charge - 
against the city at large, did so with the full knowledge 
and concurrence of successive mayors, finance committees 
and City Councils, all having been fully informed of the 
existence and character of these obligations, so unexpect- 
edlv cast upon the cit}'. ^ ^ They were consulted as to what 
was the best course to pursue and concurred in the views 
of the auditor and treasurer. On this subject the auditor 
says in his annual report for 1877: "The saving to the 
citv in interest alone by thecourse pursued, instead of issu- 
ing new bonds, has not been less than $35,000 a year for 
six vears since 1872, or about $210,000 in all, as an aver- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 281 

age of $500,000 has been carried along for the entire 
period. No person or fund has ever been wronged or in- 
jured by the procedure, even though its lack of regular 
legal authority is admitted. 

Let it be distinctly affirmed, in order to correct all mis- 
statements in the past and all misapprehensions for the 
future, that no warrant has ever been drawn upon the 
treasury by the City Auditor, nor any money ever paid by 
the City Treasurer, for the management of the floating 
special improvement debt, or for any other purpose, ex- 
cept by the direct authority of an ordinance of the Council, 
signed and recommended by the Finance Committee." 

Subsequent events fully confirmed the views of the offi- 
cials, the city at large being compelled to pay no less than 
$1,027,435.98 on this account. (See Note 11.) The wis- 
dom of the course pursued cannot, in the light of the 
results, be questioned, as the interest alone on the bonds, 
had any been issued, would have been a heavy burden. 

The issue of bonds has ever been a subject of deep con- 
sideration on the part of officials having in charge its fidu- 
ciary interests, and each succeeding administration has 
placed itself on record in this particular phase of the 
problem. Succeeding mayors have enunciated their views 
in well rounded periods, and have, so far as their powers 
enabled them, with more or less consistency, adhered to 
their views in the practice; but the influence wielded by 
the mayor in shaping affairs, either in directing or con- 
trolling its finances or in the management of any depart- 
ment, is so limited as to be virtually without force, and, as 
a consequence, his announcement of a policy conve3's no 



282 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

promise of development, and no credit or blame can 
justly attach to that officer, be the result v^hat it may. 
Under such chxumstances, and in the absence of any well 
defined uniformity of practice in an^^ given period, or of 
any radical change inaugurated at any particular epoch, 
we must conclude that the legislators and executives have 
devoted themselves rather to the question of providing 
the improvements demanded by a great community than 
of devising means to pay therefor. Shall the coming gen- 
erations be called upon to pay in whole or in part for pub- 
lic improvements, the benefit of which the}' shall enjoy as 
well as we, remains an unsolved problem. 

Any histor}^ of the finances of Cleveland would be incom- 
plete without reference to what is known as the "Sinking 
Fund of 1862,"^'^ a brief review of which is here given. 
This fund had its birth in the earh^ days of municipality, 
and those who laid its foundation builded better than 
they knew. 

Empowered by an act of the Legislature, passed in 1846, 
the city subvScribed for $100,000 of stock in the Cleveland, 
Columbus & Cincinnati railroad; in 1849 a second sub- 
scription of a like amount was authorized, and in the same 
vear $100,000 was subscribed for stock in the Cleveland 
& Pittsburgh railroad. 

In 1851, by the same authorization, $100,000 in the 
stock of the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula railroad 
was subscribed for. These several investments were paid 
for in Cleveland city bonds. On the first of May, 1862, 
at which date these stocks were placed in the custody of 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 283 

the Sinking Fund Commissioners, the nominal assets 
were : 

Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati R. R $ 26,277 29 

Cleveland & Pittsburgh R. R 102, 964. 04 

Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula R. R 232,136 19 

Total $ 361,377 52 

The result of the transactions in each instance, up to the 
date named, being as follows : 

C. C. &C.R. R. 

EXPENSES. 

City Bonds issued $ 200,000 00 

Interest on same, paid by citj' 24,800 00 

Total outlay $ 224,800 00 

RECEIPTS. 

City Bonds issued for the C. C. & C. R. R. Co., paid by 
them $ 200,000 00 

City Bonds issued for the C. & P. R. R. and paid by the C. 
C. & C. R. R. Co 114,606 41 

Other assets turned over to the Sinking Fund Commis- 
sioners 26,277 29 

Total, Receipts $ 340,883 70 

Profit on the investinent in fourteen 3'ears $ 116,083 70 

C. &P. R. R. 

EXPENSES. 

City Bonds issued for stock $ 100,000 00 

Interest paid b^' the cit\% known and estimated 37,193 59 

Interest paid by C. C. & C. R. R. from its dividends 14,606 41 

Interest paid by C. & P. R. R 8.200 00 

Total outlay $ 160,000 00 

RECEIPTS. 

Stock sold by Commissioners ..$ 42,537 50 

Amount realized from dividends 8.200 00 

Toted Receipts $ 50,737 50 



284 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Difference between the investment and the receipts $109,- 
262.50. The actual direct loss to the city, however, was 
not all of this, but was comprised in the sum of the two 
items of the taxes paid for interest, and the discount on 
the bonds sold, or $94,655.59; the remainder being the 
loss of the Sinking Fund, and of course, indirectly, that of 
the city. 

C. P. & A. R. R. 

• EXPENSES. 

City bonds issued ..; $200,000.00 

Discount paid on the bonds 2,000.00 

Total expenses $202,000.00 

RECEIPTS. 

City bonds paid $200,000.00 

City stock in possessiini at ])ar 178,520.00 

Other assets, excluding;- a claim of $33,415.4-1 on a New York 

depository which had failed 20,200.78 

This stock being at the time largely above par was 
worth probably $220,000, making a total in receipts of 
$398,720.78, and a direct profit upon the investment of 
$196,720.78 is shown. 

The first annual report of the commissioners, January 1, 
1863, showed a reduction in their nominal assets amount- 
ing to $29,218.45, which is accounted for by a sale of the 
stock of the city in the C. & P. R. R., but no real loss, as 
the stock when sold, in November, 1862, brought about 
twice as much as its quotations in May, 1862, when the 
Sinking Fund Commissioners took it in charge. The 
further progress of the fund, under the able and judicious 
management of the commissioners, and its remarkable 
increase from 1863 to the present time is briefly noted by 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



285 



giving an abstract of its successive annual amounts dur- 
ing the period : 



arv 1, 1863 Total 


cash and assets 


."ft .339O59 07 


1864 


422,203 36 


1865 


470 858 91 


1866 


569,143 59 


1867 


597,272 73 


186S 


" 933,923 78 


1869 


1,008,838 59 


1870 


" 1 146 100 68 


1871 


1,209,860 93 


1872 


1,311,550 79 


1873 


1,551,106 41 


1874- 


1,688,793 79 


1875 


" 1 761 543 44 


1876 


' " 1863,736 41 


1877 


1,989,75184 


1878 


" . 2 109 357 21 


1879 


" '1816 690 53 


1880 


1 928,742 50 


1881 


" 1 596 265 53 


1882 


' " 1 252 849 02 


1883 


1,121,602 12 


1884 


' " 1 072 772 57 


1885 


1,102,187 89 


1886 


' " 1,134,18129 


1887 


1.905.155 47 



Of this fund $925,000 was pledged, originally, to the 
redemption of outstanding Water-Works bonds, and the 
unpledged balance to such public purpose as the trustees 
of what then, 1862, constituted that portion of the city 

* The first payment from the fund, as provided 1)y law, was made in 
Jul3', 1878, being $450,000 for the redemption of maturing Water-Works 
bonds. 



286 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

located on the east side of the river — "the first seven 
wards/' Payments have been made from the fund to 
January 1, 1887, as follows: — 

Cleveland Cit\' Water-Works bonds $ 925,000 00 

Other Cleveland City loonds and debts 487,963 75 

Citj^'s proportion for repaving streets 463,191 72 

Appropriation for fire-boat 29,000 00 

Total $1,905,155 47 

The following items constitute the Sinking Fund of 1 862 
January 1, 1887: 

2,300 shares capital stock L. S. & M. S. R'y, par value $ 230,000 00 

Cleveland citj^ 6 per cent. Water-Works bonds, par value... 637,000 00 
Chicago & Atchison Bridge Company 6 per cent, bonds, 

par value 94,000 00 

Chicago & North-West Railway 7 per cent, bonds, par 

value 50,000 00 

Cash on deposit 79,069 82 

Total assets $1,090,069 82 

The act of the Legislature, authorizing the issue of 
bonds for the construction of the Viaduct, made it the 
dutv of the City Council to create a Sinking Fund within 
two years from the passage of the act "for the purpose 
of providing means to pay the principal of all bonds issued 
by authority of this act." In conformity with the pro- 
visions of this act, an ordinance was passed creating the 
"Viaduct Sinking Fund." 

The cash placed to the credit of this fund the first year, 
1879, was as follows : 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 287 

Received of City Treasurer, proceeds of levy $50,709 57 

Interests on deposits 447 65 

Payment of temporar}- loan 7,290 02 

Interest on same 56 32 

Interest on $265,000 Valley Railroad bonds 2,083 70 



Total $60,587 26 

The cash disbursements during the year were : 

Temporary loan $ 7,290 02 

Purchaseof 500 sharesof stock, Kalamazoo, Allegan & Grand 

Rapids Railroad Company 50.000 00 



Total $57.290 02 

The first annual report of the Fund Commissioners, Jan- 
uary 1, 1880, shows the following assets on that date: 

500 shares of K. A. & G. R. R. R. stock $ 50,000 00 

Valley Railroad 7 per cent, bonds 265,000 00 

Cash on deposit 3,297 24 



Total $318,297 24 

The total cash and assets of the fund on the first day of 
January of each year have been as follows : 

January 1, 1880 $318,297 24 

1881 359,798 98 

1882 389,030 67 

1883 420,110 12 

1884 478,108 58 

1885 534,050 11 

1886 587,471 36 

1887 636,878 05 

The Viaduct bonds, to the payment of which this fund 
stands pledged, mature as follows: 



288 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

1893 $148,000 00 

1894 270,000 00 

1895 300,000 00 

1896 500,000 00 

1897 225,000 00 

1898 570,000 00 

1907 125,000 00 

That the fund will be amply sufficient to fully meet the 
purpose for which it was created there can be no doubt. 

In 1879 the funds remaining in the hands of the cit}- 
treasurer as the proceeds of the annual tax levy made for 
the redemption of maturing city bonds, v^ere placed in the 
custody of the Sinking Fund Commissioners and is now 
designated as the "General Sinking Fund." The only rev- 
enue derived is interest on deposits, as the constant 
demand made on the fund precludes investment. January 
1, 1887, this fund was credited with a cash balance of 
$5,065.00. 

In December, 1885, an ordinance was passed by the 
City Council, which provides that "the surplus of water 
rents above the cost of conducting, managing, repairing 
and extending the Water-Works, as said surplus may be 
declared by the trustees of Water-Works, shall be paid over 
to the Sinking Fund Commissioners, to be b}^ them held, 
invested and managed as a 'Water-Works Sinking Fund,' 
which moneys so held, together with their earnings, shall 
be applied, from time to time, to the payment of the 
maturing interest and principal of the Water-Works 
debt, etc." In conformity with the foregoing, the sum of 
$75,000 was paid to the Sinking Fund Commissioners 
February 7, 1887. 



HISTORY OF CL?:VELAND. 289 

But a slight idea of the labor involved in making up the 
records and accounts in the citj^'s department of finance 
could be given by any written description of the sj^stem.^^ 
The grand ledger in the City Auditor's office contains no 
less than seven hundred and seventeen open accounts, two 
hundred and ninety representing the general and special 
funds and other general accounts, and four hundred and 
twenty-seven individual accounts; from these accounts 
are compiled annuall}' and presented to the City Council 
the elaborate tables, seventeen in number, as follows : 

A general exhibit of resources and disbursements in 
1886. 

An analysis of resources of each general fund for 1886. 

A comparison of ordinary expenses paid from the follow- 
ing funds for 1885 and 1886. 

The condition of each fund and account January 1, 
1887. 

The municipal lev\' for each general fund in the tax of 
1886, and comparison with that of 1885. 

Amount and proceeds of all bonds issued in 1886. 

Amount and maturity of general bonds outstanding 
January 1, 1887. 

Amount and maturity of street improvement bonds out- 
standing January 1, 1887. 

Amount and maturity of street damage bonds outstand- 
ing Januar}^ 1, 1887. 

Amount and maturity of sewer bonds outstanding Jan- 
wary 1, 1887. 

Recapitulation of bonds outstanding January 1, 1887. 



290 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Comparison of city debt of all kinds January 1, 1886, 
and January 1, 1887. 

Principal and interest of bonds maturing in each month 
of 1887. 

A comparative showing of items included for sixteen 
years — 1871 to 1886, inclusive. 

Amounts levied in the tax of 1886 upon sewer districts. 

Lists of assessments prepared by the City Auditor's 
department and levied in the tax of 1886. 

Results in 1886. 

There were issued from the department during the past 
year, 1886, 6,531 warrants on the treasury for the pay- 
ment, in the aggregate, of $3,178,771.98.* The computa- 
tions and adjustments in the department of special assess- 
ments require a large outlay of expert labor. 

The accounts in the City Treasurer's department are of 
the simplest character and are embraced under about two 
hundred headings. The receipt and disbursement of the 
funds constitute the principal labor of the department ; 
the aggregate cash receipts for the year 1886 were $4,- 
548,657.12, as follows: Municipal funds, $2,971,496.36, 
School funds, $1,178,821.62; Water-Works, $362,420.36 ; 
Public Library $35,918.78. 

The total cash disbursements were $3,909,161.16, as 
follows: For municipal purposes, $2,954,841.03; for 
School purposes, $628,882.79 ; for Water-Works purposes, 
$302,178.05; for Public Library purposes, $23,259.29. 

No city in the country has a better credit in financial cir- 

* This is exclusive of the amount paid on the regular pay rolls, which 
are made up by the several departments. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 291 

cles than Cleveland ; in none have municipal affairs been 
administered with greater fidelity on the part of its ser- 
vants, and, while there are unquestionably many abuses, it 
will be found that they are inherent in the system of gov- 
ernment prescribed b^^ the organic law of the State, which 
admits of legislative tinkering with the minutest detail, 
and that in the administration of affairs no advantage 
has been taken of the evils of the system. That these 
existing evils should be cured must become more apparent 
as the city increases in wealth and population; and with a 
speedy application of an adequate remedy, Cleveland will 
continue to maintain its present high standing in the 
financial world. 



NOTES. 



^ On February 13, 1866, a special committee of the City Council, con- 
sisting of Messrs. Thomas Jones, Jr., Ansel Roberts and John Huntington, 
after an exhaustive examination, extending through the records of a 
period of fifteen 3-ears, submitted a report upon the school fund showing a 
balance to the credit of that fund of nearly ninety thousand dollars, with 
which to meet an estimated current expenditure for the year of fifty-five 
thousand dollars, whereas the current accounts of the clerk indicated a 
large deficit in that fund. 

~ In every matter pertaining to the disbursement of its vast revenues, 
in the appointment of its numerous officials and fixing the rate of their 
compensation, in directing the laying of pipe and in fixing the charges to 
consumers, this Board is entirel3' independent of supervision or control. 
Bills are passed upon by the Board, the warrants on the treasury are 
drawn bj' its secretary, and the auditor is required to sign the latter, 
without the authority of enquiry as to the nature or correctness of the 
account. These bills are not placed in the ordinance for the payment of 



292 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

claims and passed -iipon b^- the Council, as is true of all other claims 
against the cit3^ For many years the approval of a snigle member of 
the Board of Trustees sufficed to pass claims for payment. For as manj 
years no footings of the book of entry for water rents had been made, 
and the system of accounts was so far defective that embezzlement was 
made easy and rendered safe by the entire absence of an3^ check upon the 
receiving officer. The strict integrity of the incumbents alone saved the 
dty from loss, and it is but justice to these gentlemen to say that an in- 
vestigation made by a special committee of Council in 1878, disclosed the 
fact that all moneys had been duly accounted for. On the recommenda- 
tion of this committee many defects in the system were remedied. 

The autocratic power of this Board is well illustrated in the attitude 
taken in relation to the bonded indebtedness incurred in behalf of the de- 
partment, the Board declining to pay either interest or principal out of 
the large surplus remaining in the treasur^^ ever^^ year (amounting on the 
firstday of January, 1887,to $125, 386.74), thus placing the burden upon 
the general public and this without any apparent adequate reason, be- 
yond a desire to show at the end of each year that the department had 
not only been self-sustaining, but had been operated at a large profit, a 
profit which, under the present schedule of rates, innures to the large con- 
sumers and is taken directly not only from the pocket of the small con- 
sumer, but as well from that of the citizen who is not supplied with 
water through this channel. The following statement will show the 
results of this policy : 

Total amount of bonds issued for Water-Works purposes $2,700 000 

Interest to date of maturity 3,246,790 

Total $5,946,790 

Of this amount there will have paid prior to January 1, 1888 : 

Of the principal $ 925,000 

Interest 2,331,040 

Total $3,256,040 

The payments have been made as follows: 

From the Sinking Fund $ 300,000 

By the Water-Works Department 220,000 

By direct general taxation 2,736,040 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 293 

From the foregoing it will be seen that for the past thirty-two years 
the city has paid on this behalf, principal and interest, an average of 
$101,750 annually, and for sixteen years to come will be required to pay 
an annual average of $168,170, if no change is effected. 

^ On April 1, 1868, the Fire Department fund was balanced by trans- 
ferring from the general fund to its credit the sum of $102,695.64, this 
being the amoimt overdrawn at that date, since which date and up to 
the first of September, 1873, amounts aggregating $248,768.26 had 
been transferred to the same fund, and on the latter date the fund 
showed a balance of $33,270.77 on the wrong side of the ledger. 

4 . . . Xor shall an\- appropriation be made by an\' City Council, 
officer or board, having anj' control thereof, imless the City Auditor 
shall first certify to the City Council, or board, that there is money in the 
treasury-, not otherwise appropriated, for the payment thereof — Act of 
the Legislature, passed April IS, 1871. 

' Mr. Everett entered upon his duties as City Treasurer in April, 1869. 
In June of the same year he went to New York and endeavored to nego- 
tiate the notes of the cit\' to the amount of $200,000 through the Ocean 
Bank, which institution had been doing business for the city for some 
years. The bank declined the paper ; Mr. Everett thereupon called upon 
the American Exchange National Bank, and through his personal ac- 
quaintance, as a banker, with its officers and directors, secured the 
loan at seven per cent., three per cent, less than the city had been pa\-ing. 
The city's balance was withdrawn from the Ocean Bank and the Ameri- 
can Exchange National has since been the Eastern agent of the city. All 
Cleveland city bonds are made pa^^able at that institution. By this 
transaction a saving of $25,000 in interest was effected in the first year 
of Mr. Everett's inctimbency, and the failure of the Ocean Bank, shortly 
after the transfer of the funds, would have resulted in a loss of from 
$30,000 to $40,000 to the city had the balance remained. 

® In his annual message, delivered to the Cit3^ Council April 11, 1876, 
Mayor Payne says: "The terse, intelligible yet comprehensive presenta- 
tion by Cit}- Treasurer Everett, in his annual report of the fiscal transac- 
tions of the government for the year, cannot but have attracted the atten- 
tion and received the unqualified approbation of all. But not even here are 



294 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Mr. Everett's services to the city seen to best advantage. The high credit 
our securities command in the Eastern markets is in no small degree due 
to the masterly manner in which he has handled our bonds. Instead of 
emplo_ving agents on commission, as had been done, Mr. Everett has 
taken our bonds to the Eastern money centers, put himself in communi- 
cation with the heaviest dealers in these securities, whose respect and 
confidence he has, and invited competition. His success in securing the 
highest rates is remarkable. It enabled us in our last transactions, the 
first and onlv citj' in the West, to dispose of one hundred thousand dol- 
lars six per cent, twenty year Water-Works bonds at a premium of five- 
eighths of one per cent, above par and all accrued interest." 

And again one year later the same authority says: "Two 3-ears of 
irtimate acquaintance with the working of our municipal government 
has convinced me of the efficiency of our civil service. The issue of the 
immense number of bonds required to meet the obligations imposed by 
the improvements in progress has made fidelity and judicious manage- 
ment m the treasury department indispensable. To ascertain whether 
the citv received the best possible rates for the securities it offered 
in the markets, on two occasions, when large amounts of bonds were to 
be sold, I accompanied the City Treasurer to the Eastern money centers 
—visited the principal dealers in municipal and other bonds with him, and 
witnessed his method. I learned that no city in the West realized more 
on the same grade of bonds than Cleveland, and few, if any, as much. I 
returned thoroughly satisfied that the universal public confidence mani- 
fested in this officer was not misplaced." 

' In 1882, $100,000 Water-Works bonds bearing 3.65 per cent, inter- 
est were disposed of at one per cent, premium. 

8 Reference is here had to the policy pursued in meeting maturing 
bonds, issued to pay for special improvements, by using moneys in the 
treasurv, instead of re-issuing bonds. 

9 The increase in the debt from January 1 to July 1, 1887, is accounted 
for as follows : 

General bonds were issued as follows : 

For Elevated Roadway $175,000 

For Kingsbury Run bridge 10,000 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 295 

For Petrie Street bridge 5,000 

For Pearl Street bridge 25,000 

For street improvements 19,000 

For sewers 36,000 

For notes, miscellaneous 5,200 

Total $275,200 

Debt canceled : 

School bonds paid $ 50,000 

Street improvement bonds paid 33,000 

Sewer bonds paid 8,500 

Notes paid 9,555 

Total $101,055 

^^ In his Annual Report for the year 1877 the City Auditor dwells at 
length on this subject. After recounting briefly the history of other 
special improvements, he sa'vs : 

" In most instances, the propert3^ owners along the line of any improve- 
ment, to all appearances, acted spontaneously and unitedly in petition- 
ing the Board of Improvements to approve the application, and recom- 
mend it to the Council for adoption. In a few cases, some of which have 
been made conspicuously' prominent by very general discussion as to 
their merits and demerits, certain large property owners, or speculators, 
as it may be, made up for their lack of numbers by their activity and 
personal influence in securing a majority of the smaller owners in en- 
dorsement of a certain method which, on further reflection, or it might 
be said adverse representation, the latter were dissatisfied with, as not 
being so much to their own private advantage as to that of other large 
owners! Had the cases been reversed, the dissatisfied ones would have 
been reversed also. 

Hence if the improvement was well done, impartial citizens, not inter- 
ested in these street gift schemes, could look on with serene indifference 
at the disappointment of those who drew blanks in the pavement lot- 
tery. 

But the best illustration of the "true inwardness" of some of these 
speculative projects, devised especially for the benefit of certain property 
•owners but masked under the thin veil of "public utilit}'," is the propo- 



296 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

sitioii, made in 1S74-, to open a new street between Euclid avenue and 
Superior street, and running between Bond street extension and Erie 
street, to be called Vincent street. 

The petition for the new street was signed only by a few jiersons, 
and probably by an even less proportion than in the case of the 
Sheriff street extension ; and none, perhaps, except the few original 
signers, out of a wide territory in ever}- direction, on which the tax 
for the new street would have been assessed, would have known 
of their prospective liabilities till they were called upon to pay 
for what could have been of no real advantage except to the 
Superior street and Euclid avenue owners of the abutting prop- 
erty! Yet the application was unhesitatingh' recommended by the 
Board of Improvements to the Council, which approved it and passed 
an ordinance authorizing the appropriation of the land needed for Vin- 
cent street. The value of the land to be appropriated was estimated by 
a jury in the Probate Court, at $90,000. Had no opposition arisen, 
and from an unex;pected source, not from those who were nominalh- to 
pay for it — the scheme might have been successfully carried througli. 
Prior, however, to the issue of city bonds for the payment of the 
$90,000, the matter was referred to the Finance Committee, then 
consisting of Messrs. James Barnett, Stephen Buhrer and George T. Chap- 
man. They made a careful investigation of the case, and reported that 
on the basis of the extreme limit of the legal assessment, namely twenty- 
five per cent, of its value on the abutting property, only about $40,000 
to $45,000 could be realized, and further, that a tax on an indefinite 
amount of territory in the vicinity to meet the remaining cost would 
not probably be sustained if opposed in the courts, as it seemed appar- 
ent that no other property would be directly or indirectly benefit2d by 
Vincent street except that on the street itself, as it was not a necessary 
outlet for anything else ; and hence, that the cit}- at large would have 
to pay not less than $45,000 additional for the benefit of the projectors 
of the scheme. Although, as stated, the Coimcil had already authorized 
the appropriation of the land for the street, yet when the Finance Com- 
mittee and City Auditor made an adverse recommendation to that of the 
Board of Improvements, the Council adopted that of the committee and 
auditor, and refused to issue bonds in payment of a risk which the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 297 

owners on the line of the street were unwilling to take upon themselves. 
The Finance Committee offered to accept a bond from these verj' prop- 
erty owners, waiving their statutory rights, and guaranteeing the cit3^ 
against any possible claim which might thereafter be made from the 
excess of the cost of the land over the legal rate of the assessment ; but 
this, as was expected, they were unwilling to do, and the project of course 
fell through." [Vincent street was opened in 1886, by private enterprise, 
so far as the cost and expenses therefor is concerned. — Ed.] 

*i This matter is in itself of importance sufficient to justify a far more 
extended consideration than is practicable in an article of this character, 
and the following compilations, furnished by request by Air. R. F. Jones, 
Deputy City Auditor, August 1, 1887, must suffice to show the bearing 
had upon our municipal finances and indirectlj' upon the material pros- 
perity of the city. The figures are eloquent, and tell a marvelous tale of 
the enrichment of the private citizen at the expense of the public : 

"The total amount of indebtedness for special or local improvements, 
which for various reasons the cit^^ of Cleveland has been unable to meet 
b3^ direct taxation upon the abutting propert}^, or the pro pertj^ benefited, 
and amounting to $1,027,435.98, has been paid 133- the city as follows: 

From the Sinking Fund of 1862 $466,486 51 

By issue of funded debt bonds 544,148 70 

From the General Fund, being the remaining surplus of the 

'Scott Law' liquor tax 16,561 48 

From the General Sinking Fund 239 29 

Of this amount $994,181.38 has been permanently enjoined b}- the 
courts. 

The following accounts were credited by payments made from the 
Sinking Fund of 1862, being improvements in 'the first seven wards:' 

Allen street opening $ 7.012 73 

Bank street extension paving 6,968 97 

Bond street opening 89,764 41 

Central Place opening, Huron to Prospect 54,128 93 

Marquette street opening 11,230 46 

Orange street extension 1,209 57 



298 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Payne avenue opening, Superior to Willson 277,851 44 

Seneca street opening, grading and grading damages 18,320 00 

Total $466,486 51 

Paid from the proceeds of funded debt bonds: 

Arlington sti-eet opening $ 409 46 

Broadway sewer, east of Kingsbury Run 127 83 

Becker avenue widening , 2,887 86 

Broadway paving, Union to Miles ; 67,817 29 

Beech street grading and culvei'ts 712 30 

Bailey street opening 1,467 13 

Bucton street grading and damages 444 72 

Brownell street paving 1,605 44 

Broadway paving, Independence to Union street 10,075 78 

Columbus, Pearl and Walworth Run bridge improvements.. 111,440 09 

Custead avenue opening 120 00 

Detroit street paving, Kentucky to 220 feet west 928 11 

East Prospect street opening 5,925 89 

Franklin street paving 6,653 18 

Grand avenue opening 4,354 39 

Herald street grading,etc 804 16 

Junction street grading, etc 20,887 49 

Jennings avenue paving 1,025 '^1 

Kinsman street paving and culverts 148,811 39 

Lincoln avenue culverts 325 16 

Lake street jjaving 4,870 94 

Long street paving 240 23 

Mulberry street paving 1,223 35 

March street opening 3,663 82 

Miles street damages 338 54 

Pearl street paving, Detroit to Monroe 3,822 34 

Russell avenue opening 3,457 83 

Superior street sewer, west of Doan brook 841 20 

Slater street opening 8,761 51 

Summit street opening 511 15 

St. Clair street widening, east of Willson avenue.... 28,476 12 

Seneca street giaiing and paving 1,384 86 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 299 

Superior street widening, east of Willson 760 00 

Sewer Districts 1 and 2, East Cleveland 31,496 00 

Woodland avenue vi'idening, Willson to East Madison 5,801 40 

Woodland avenue, macadamizing, Willson to East Madison 4,860 00 

West River street improvements 1,750 57 

Willson avenue grading, etc., Euclid avenue to Lake Erie 2,109 87 

Wade Park avenue opening 10,423 08 

Willson avenue opening, North of St. Clair street 7,687 48 

Willson avenue opening, Sawtell to Broadway 18,635 90 

Willson avenue grading, etc., Maurice to Sawtell 3,358 21 

Willson avenue grading, etc., Julia to Maurice 12,850 72 

Total $544,148 70 

Paid from the General Fund : 

Columbus, Pearl and Walworth Run bridge improvements.. $ 2,338 00 

Sewer Districts 1 and 2, East Cleveland 5,585 16 

St. Clair street paving, Erie to Willson 3.977 52 

Orange street extension 1,766 00 

Superior street sewer, east of Doan brook 2,894 80 

Total $ 16,56148 

Paid from the General Sinking Fund : 
Bailc}' street opening $ 239 29 

It must be understood that this sum represents only so much of the 
taxes upon local propertj^ which have been permanently enjoined by the 
courts, and bonds for which indebtedness, together with the interest, 
have matured. Other cases of a similar nature are now pending before 
the courts, the result of which is yet uncertain, but doubtless will cause 
an addition to the already enormous debt of at least $500,000." 

1- In his report for 1877 the CitA' Auditor very pointedly fixes the 
responsibility, so far as it attaches to city officials. He says : 

"With the account of these instances alone, out of the long list of 
others which were characterized by a similar indifference or negligence on 
the part of successive Boards of Improvements for many years past, 



300 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

many of whose members are still living among us, the burdened public 
may well in sentiment, if not in realit\', address them as follows: 

You are constituted the fiduciary agents of the city in all these special 
improvement projects. You were expected to examine into the merits of 
each with intelligence, fidelity and care. You were not expected to be 
swayed in your actions b}' an3' considerations of wealth, standing, or 
political or other influence^ of any petitioners. The Council relied and 
acted upon A^our recommendations — unless proved worthless, as in the 
Vincent street case — in assuming the original cost and issuing bonds 
therefor, which were to be paid, principal and interest, by taxes on the 
property' benefited. You were not expected, from this very reliance of 
the City Council in your judgment, to recommend any project which 
would involve the city in cost beyond that which could, without contest 
or injunction, be realized from taxes assessed on the property improved. 
You made contracts upon which there is j'ct due the city eighty-three 
thousand dollars for paving that portion of the several streets occupied 
by street railroads, the cost of which should have been immediately paid 
or provided for by the railroad companies themselves, but for which the 
cit}^ through your agency, was compelled to issue bonds in payment. 
Your contracts contained no guarantee for the re-payment of the money 
so expended, and the final collection of it is extremely doubtful. The fail- 
ure to collect any portion of this will make the amount remaining 
unpaid a permanent charge against the city, as it cannot now be as- 
sessed against the abutting property. 

Would these gentlemen, if they had been appointed by any court as 
guardians of even a comparatively insignificant trust, have risked it so 
hastily and readily without investigation by loaning it, without any 
positive security for its re-payment, or without even knowing, as in the 
cases cited, who was to make that re-payment ? Would they have risked 
their own moncA^ in a security so intangible, so far as the time and vague 
sources of payment are concerned, as this? If the}- would not have 
taken these risks, either as guardians or personally, why did they peril 
thus recklessly and improvidently the interests of all the tax-payers of 
Cleveland thus committed to their care ? 

The original estimate for the whole cost of the Viaduct, and all its col- 
lateral improvements, was made under their charge, and the citizens 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 301 

relied on their calculations that it would not exceed one million one 
hundred thousand dollars. 

The Legislature authorized the issue of city bonds to that amount. 
The project was submitted to the citizens, who voted for it with the un- 
derstanding that that sum was all which would ever be needed or called 
for to the end. The first contract for the work was made by them in 
1874, under the authority to incur only one million one hundred thou- 
sand dollars of cost. Yet the latest estimates have shown that the total 
cost of the Viaduct and Canal improvements, not including the sinking 
of the railroad tracks, will reach at least two million four hundred 
thousand dollars. 

Nocriticism of the Viaduct itself is here intended. It is admitted to be a 
work of great public utility, whose value as a needed thoroughfare be- 
tween the two sections of the city will be more and more recognized each 
succeeding year. But it is intended to criticise the fact, that before 
entering upon the work, more intelligence and comprehensive investiga- 
tions were not made to determine what would be the real cost of the 
structure, including the right of way, that the citizens might have known 
by a clear approximation at least the extent of the responsibility to be 
incurred in the undertaking. 

By this very lack of, or failure to exhibit, at least, the indispensable 
qualities which should have characterized their action, they are respon- 
sible, even beyond the Council which merely confirmed their recommen- 
dations, for this great special improvement debt, the condition of which 
is so unsatisfactory at present to all. It is a fitting epitaph for those 
departed Boards of Improvements — 

' The evil which men do lives after them.' 

The present Board of Improvements, created since the passage of the 
Burns law, is not responsible for any portion of the debt, as no new im- 
provements were or could be undertaken during the past year." 

1* Mayor Payne, in his annual message, delivered to the City Council 
April 11, 1S76, refers to this matter in the following terms: "A mo- 
ment's examination of Treasurer Everett's clear, concise statement of 
the transactions and conditions of the various general and special funds, 
forcibly impresses us with the extent of its unfortunate results. This 
report shows the funds which constitute the general revenue of the city 



302 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND, 

(among them the sinkmg fund, the use of which for any other purpose 
the law expi-essly prohibits), with an aggregate credit of $274,444.87. 
It also appears that there is but $6,109.48 in the city treasury. Where 
is this money, every dollar of which was provided for a particular pur- 
pose? The report explains this also; it shows special improvement 
accounts overdrawn to an aggregate of $419,000. That is, assessments 
have been delayed and no collections made to meet these special bonds, and 
to save the credit of the city the treasurer has been in the past compelled 
to apply all moneys in his hands, for whatever purpose raised, to discharge 
these obligations." 

And again, a year later. Mayor Payne says: "Bonds were issued as 
these improvements were made, running from one to five or more years 
in anticipation of the tax. They matured from time to time, and no tax 
having been collected to redeem them, re-issues were resorted to in many 
cases ; in others they were redeemed by the use of funds on hand provided 
for other uses. In either case the result is unfortunate. If the bonds are 
re-issued the interest account accumulates unnecessarily. If other funds 
are used our fiscal concerns are disturbed by it. The effect is seen at a 
glance in the admirable statement of City Treasurer Everett. In his 
special accounts, the aggregate amount of money thus diverted from its 
proper purpose, as shown by the overdrafts, is $364,308.89. 

1* The act of the Legislature creating the Board of Sinking Fund Com- 
missioners was passed March 28, 1862, hence the name. Previous to 
this date the railroad stocks, etc., comprising the fund, were in the cus- 
tody of three Boards of" City Commissioners." The act of 1862 named 
the Sinking Fund Commissioners as follows: Messrs. H. B. Payne, F. T. 
Backus, Wm. Case, Moses Kelly and Wm. Bingham, and gave them 
power to fill vacancies, subject to the approval of the City Council. The 
following changes have occurred : Charles Hickox, elected May 3, 1862, 
vice Wm. Case, deceased ; Leonard Case, elected May 28, 1870, vice F. T. 
Backus, deceased ; J. H. Wade, elected January 2, 1871, vice Moses Kelly, 
deceased ; S. T. Everett, elected January 26, 1880, vice Leonard Case 
deceased. 

A Citizens Investigation Committee, consisting of Messrs. A. K. Spen- 
cer, Jno. H. Farley, H. M. Claflen, E. S. Flint, W. H. Hay ward and Hub- 
bard Cook, authorized by a resolution of City Council, to examine the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 303 

books and accounts of every department of the city government, after 
six months exhaustive search, made with the assistance of an expert 
accountant, reported to the City Council at considerable length, October 
15, 1877. The following extract from the report embodies its sentiment 
throughout : "We would here state that we find nothing in any depart- 
ment that looks like fraud or the misappropriation of the funds of the 
city, nor have any transactions been found that cause us to question the 
integrity of any of the officers of the city. 



304 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



LITERATURE IN CLEVELAND. 



THE mosaic of American intellectual development pre- 
sents a formidable task to the historian who is also 
an analyst, for the bright bits of its tessellated pattern 
have been quarried from every land in the round earth. 

The bedrock was laid by the Puritans and the French 
Huguenots in high thought and purity, in the North. In 
the South the Spanish adventurers and French convicts 
filled a different foundation. The free life, the soil, the cli- 
mate, the surroundings, all had an influence in managing 
the mental life of the new world people. 

At the time of the revolution a very bright standard of 
English literature had been attained in England and the 
colonies, but the interruption of the great war turned 
public thought into that channel, and the best talent of 
both countries w^as absorbed in statesmanship. When 
peace again prevailed, the independence of the new coun- 
try manifested itself in literature as well as government. 

The infant republic, weakened and impoverished, must 
devote more time to founding industries than to study* 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 305 

and the good wile's maxims were oftener quoted than the 
immortal poets, so that when leisure was attained for the 
patronage of literature, much of the ideality had disap- 
peared from poetry and fiction, the severity of New Eng- 
land theology was temporized, while the hard won gospel 
of democracy, the doctrine of all men's equalitv, had in- 
troduced into literature a breadth and humanity to which 
can directly be traced the tenderness of the Longfellow 
and Whittier school. The rugged discipline of the long 
struggle gave a realistic tone which the business-like char- 
acter of the people and the accuracy of science have since 
preserved. The reaction of the rapid wealth from early 
poverty has been like malaria — springing from the all too 
rich but uncultivated soil of primitive fertility but that 
will undoubtedly yield its sensuous, sensational tone to 
the upward tendency of educated taste, as the very vines 
of the swamp, if subdued, live again in the flower and 
fruitage of the cultivated field. The constant addition of 
foreign thought is an element of change, and sectional 
influences have been strong enough to create a local tone 
in the literature of the far West, the South and New Eng- 
land. 

The high thought and elevated literary purpose of the 
Western Reserve can be traced directly to the New Eno-- 
land school, broadened and liberalized by the progressive- 
ness of the West, transplanted to the suggestive beaut v of 
the South shore, and purified by the keen winds of Lake 
Erie. Cleveland has never been a publishing centre, and its 
literary products have been without the stimulus, of busi- 
ness inducement, so that the number of books that have 



306 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Spontaneously sprung to life is hardly a fair indication of 
the literary standard of the city. 

That should be judged rather by the number of readers 
than the number of writers, and taking as a standard the 
patronage of libraries, schools and churches, and the fact 
that the largest proportion of mail in the country is re- 
ceived here, the result is most creditable. 

Just how much of the record is due to the literary excel- 
lence and conscientious editing of the Cleveland papers, it 
is impossible to say; but the fact that they have been 
under the control of men of broad scholarship who have 
not allowed the news of the day to be polluted with the 
objectionable matter that so often finds its way into the 
press, is a cause of much good taste among the people. 

The germ of Cleveland literature w^as the Cleveland 
Gazette and Commercial Advertiser, issued in July, 1818, 
and continued for about a year. Although some ad- 
verse frost cut it down, it sprouted again with a more 
sturdy stalk in the Cleveland Herald, October, 1819. This 
veteran paper, one of the first in the country, flourished 
without a competitor for about thirteen j^ears. In 1832 
the Advertiser was established as the organ of the Whig 
party, and was afterwards merged in the Plain Dealer. 

In August, 1834,. the Cleveland Whig was established 
by Rice and Penniman and was issued for about two 
years. 

In the year 1836 several papers, most of them short- 
lived, were started. They were the Ohio City Argus, pub- 
lished in what is now the West Side by T. H. Smead and 
Lyman W. Hall; the Cleveland Messenger, Cleveland 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 307 

Daily Gazette, afterwards absorbed b}^ the Herald ; the 
Cleveland Liberalist and the Cleveland Journal, a religious 
paper which was afterward united with the Ohio Ob- 
server. These were enough to arouse the spirit of journal- 
ism to a high pitch, for in the fifty years intervening 
between 1837 and 1887 upwards of ninet\' newspapers 
and magazines devoted to all manner of interests were 
unsuccessfulh^ started, and lived from one issue to four or 
five years, the literary enterprise which started them 
being more notable than profitable. 

In addition, however, to those that failed, is a good 
number that have been eminently successful and useful. 

The oldest of these is, of course, the Cleveland Herald, 
established in 1819. The Heralds sole predecessor was 
so frail and short-lived that the former may be called the 
first journal in Cuyahoga county. It was a weekly paper 
for the first eighteen years of its existence published b\^ Z. 
Willis & Company, but in 1837 it was united with the 
Cleveland Gazette, a daily paper which had been started 
the previous year, and the joint paper was called the 
Daily Herald and Gazette, the proprietors being Messrs. 
Whittlesey and Hull. 

The firm changed after a time, Josiah A. Harris becom- 
ing sole proprietor. The population of Cleveland and 
Ohio City together was then about six thousand, and it 
was doubtful whether the paper could be supported. The 
enterprise and devotion to principle of the Herald won 
the confidence of the people and it lived. 

In 1850 A. W. Fairbanks became a partner and a job 



308 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

office was added. In the spring of 1853 George A. Bene- 
dict became one of the partners and editors. 

The Herald had grown from a small paper, printed upon 
a press that it did not own, to a journal of large circula" 
tion and influence, owning a large building and full com- 
plement of presses and materials, and employing a large 
force. 

In 1877 it was sold to Messrs. R. C. Parsons and W. P. 
Fogg, and its literary standard became even more elevated 
under their scholarly management. In the spring of 1885 
the subscription list and good will of the iiTera/c? was sold to 
the Leader, and the building and presses to the P/a/wDea/er, 
and thus ended the separate existence of a long, fruitful 
and honorable career. 

An event of some importance in the history of Cleveland 
journalism was the purchase in 1842 by Mr. M. C. Young- 
love of the first power printing-press ever operated 
northwest of the Ohio river. From this press ap- 
peared the Herald and Plain Dealer of that day. In 
1848 it was removed to Ravenna, where, let us hope, 
it is still preserved as a curious reminder of pioneer 
typography. 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is second in age of the exist- 
ing dailies. 

In 1834 the Cleveland Advertiser was purchased by Can- 
field and Spencer. It was continued as a weekh' until 
1836, when it was issued daily. In 1841 J. W. and A. N. 
Gray bought the paper and changed its name to the Plain 
Dealer. J. W. Gray was the editor and proved to be a 




C^ . tu<^^^.-.^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 309 

great accession to the paper, as he was a witty and keen 
w^riter and careful editor. 

The Plain Dealer was always a strong Democratic sheet, 
but when the civil war broke out it was loyal to the Gov- 
ernment, and threw its weight upon the side of the Union. 
Mr. Gray died in 1862, and four years later the paper was 
purchased b}^ W. W. Armstrong, of Tiffin, and under 
his control has led a successful career. It is recog- 
nized as the Democratic organ of Northern Ohio, second 
to one only in the State. In the summer of 1885 the 
Plain Dealer was enlarged from a four page evening paper 
to an eight page morning paper, being quite an important 
development. It now enjo\^s a large circulation and 
employ's an able force of writers, many of whom in the 
past and present have won distinction of an enviable 
character. 

Among those of the past whose names are now widely 
known are J. B. Boughton, since of the New York Com- 
mercial Advertiser; Ex-Judge Cleveland, of the Cleveland 
Bar; Bishop McLaren, of the diocese of Illinois ; D. R. Locke, 
celebrated as Petroleum V. Nasby ; the late Charles Farrar 
Browne, the famous Artemus Ward, and E. V. Smalley, 
now a well-known writer. 

The Cleveland Leader had its birth in 1844 in "Ohio 
Cit}^" being then founded as the Ohio American by R. B. 
Denis. It was published in 1845 by Edwin Cowles, the vet- 
eran editor, then a lad of eighteen years, and edited by D. 
L. Rice. In 1846 Mr. Cowdes transferred the publication 
to Mr. M. W. Miller, whocontinued his connection with the 
paper in company with Mr. Rice until 1848. In that 3^ear 



310 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the American and the True Democrat, a Whig paper 
founded in 1846 by Hon. E. S. Hamlin, were consolidated 
and published under the name of the True Democrat. 

In 1848 Mr. Joseph Medill, since of the Chicago Tribune, 
came to Cleveland and established the Forest City Daily, 
but it was not successful, owing to the number of papers 
already- flourishing, and in 1853 the True Democrat and 
the Forest C/trZ^aiVv were consolidated under the name of 
the Daily Forest City Democra t. Mr. Cowles was taken into 
partnership under the firm name of Medill, Cowles & Co. 
Mr. Cowles had charge of the business department and 
Messrs. Medill and Vaughn of the editorial. In March, 
1854, the name was changed to the Cleveland Leader. 

In the spring of 1855 Mr. Cowles purchased the interest 
controlled by Messrs. Medill and Vaughn, and from that 
time until 1867 was sole proprietor of the Leader, except 
for two short interspaces. In 1867 a stock company was 
organized, Mr. Cowles retaining the majority of the stock. 
The Leader was the first paper in the world that was 
printed on a rotary lightning press which delivered the 
sheets pasted, with leaves cut at top and folded, all in one 
operation. 

Since 1869 the company also issues an afternoon paper, 
established by Nevins Brothers, and afterwards purchased 
by the Leader, called at first the Evening News. It also 
publishes the Tri-weekly, the Weekly and the Sunday 
Leader, all papers of wide circulation and great influence. 

In 1885 the Leader purchased the circulation and the 
name of the Herald, to incorporate with its own, and has 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 311 

since appeared as the Leader and Herald, while the Even- 
ing News became the News and Herald. 

With this addition to its ah-ead3' large circulation, and 
under the skillful editorship of Hon. J. C. Covert and a 
corps of efficient writers, the Leader and Herald is now a 
recognized power, not only as a valuable newspaper, but 
a factor in both State and National politics, and the 
leader of Republicanism in Northern Ohio. 

The Ohio Farmer, a weekly agricultural, live stock and 
family journal, was established in Januarj^ 1848, by 
Thomas Brown. After putting the paper upon a good 
basis as to circulation and standing he retired from its 
control, and in 1862 it passed into the hands of William B. 
Fairchild as publisher, and Sullivan D. Harris as editor. 
At this time the Ohio Cultivator, established in 1845 at 
Columbus, Ohio, was purchased and consolidated with 
the Ohio Farmer, making the latter the onh^ agricultural 
paper in the State. In 1866 Mr. Fairchild's interest was 
bought by A. W. Parker. Mr. Parker's death in 1867 left 
Mr. Harris sole proprietor until January, 1868. 

After passing through the hands of Mr. George E. 
Blakeslee the Farmer was purchased in 1872 b}^ Mr. M. J. 
Lawrence, who obtained the services of Mr. M. E. Wil- 
liams as associate editor, and in their hands the paper 
became a financial success for the first time. In 1874 the 
Buckeye Farmer was purchased by Mr. Lawrence and 
united with the Ohio Farmer. In 1879 the American 
Farm Journal, published at Toledo, shared the same fate. 
The Farmer is now a successful paper of extensive circula- 
tion in Ohio and the surrounding States, and is quoted as 



312 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

not only the principal agricultural paper of the State but 
a recognized authority in the country-. 

The Publishing House of the Evangelical Association 
was established in 1816 by the enterprise of Father John 
Driesbach, then quite a 3'oung man. It was started at 
New Berlin, Pennsylvania, in a very modest way, but still 
sufficiently extensive to suppl}^ the demands of the organ- 
ization. 

In November, 1836, at a special meeting of the General 
Conference, it was decided to locate a book establishment 
at New Berlin, Pennsylvania, and it was done the follow- 
ing year. In 1851 the General Conference ordered the 
removal of the publishing house to Cleveland, Ohio. 
This was accomplished in 185-1, and the new building was 
erected on Woodland avenue, where the business is now 
carried on. The demand for work increased so rapidly 
that the building at first too large, was entirely inade- 
quate, and work was refused for lack of facilities with 
which to do it. In 1874 a handsome new building was 
erected for store and office purposes, adjoining the origi- 
nal building. 

This, however, would not supply the still increasing de- 
mand for greater facilities, and in 1877 another building, 
large, handsome and commodious, was added, fronting 
upon Harmon street. Thus from the small wooden build- 
ing in which the book publishing was commenced in 1837 
at New^ Berlin, Pennsylvania, with an investment of about 
two hundred dollars, has sprung one of the largest and 
best equipped publishing houses in the country. 

Besides the books published, a number of both German 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 313 

and English periodicals are issued. They are: Der Christ- 
liche Botschafter, Rev. W.Horn, editor; the oldest, largest 
and most extensively circulated religious German news- 
paper published in America. 

Der Christliche Kinderfreund, Rev. C. A. Thomas, editor; 
an illustrated German Sunday-school paper. It is issued 
weekly, semi-weekly and monthly. 

Die Wandtafel, a weekly publication in the guise of a 
blackboard, designed to illustrate the International Sun- 
da^'-school lessons. 

The Evangelical Magazine, Rev. C. A. Thomas, editor; 
a beautifully printed and finely illustrated magazine of 
thirty-six pages. 

Evangelisches Lectionshlatt, weekly; Evangelisches Vier- 
teljahrshift, quarterly ; Laemwerweide, weekly ; three 
German Sunday-school publications. 

In the English are published : Evangelical Lesson Leaf, 
weekly. 

Evangelical Lesson Quarterly, edited bv Rev. P. W. 
Raldabaugh. 

The Evangelical Messenger, weekh% edited b\' Rev. H. B. 
Hartzler. 

The Evangelical Sunday School Teacher, edited by Rev. 
P. W. Raidabaugh. 

The Living Epistle, edited by P. W. Raidabaugh. 

My Lesson, weekly, by same editor. 

Sunday School Messenger, by the same editor. 

The Blackboard, also edited by Rev. P. W. Raidabaugh. 

All of these publications have a large circulation and are 
calculated to be most useful in religious work. Some of 



314 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the German periodicals have an extensive subscription Hst 
in Germany. The publishing house is under the authority 
of the General Conference of the Evangelical Association, 
and under the direct management of a publishing agent. 
Its surplus profits are devoted to benevolent purposes. 

Brainard's Musical World was first issued in 1854 b^- 
the music publishing house of S. Brainard & Co. It was 
an eight page journal devoted to music. It was gradually 
enlarged to forty pages as its success became assured. It 
is now issued in the music houses of the firm of S. Brain- 
ard's Sons simultaneously in Cleveland, Chicago and Cin- 
cinnati. 

The German Baptist Publishing Society, at 957 Payne 
avenue, originated in the Conference of German Baptists, 
held at Berlin, Ontario, in 1866. 

Philip W. Biepel w^as elected editor and secretary of the 
society. J. T. Burghardt, of Louisville, Kentucky, gave 
the sum of two thousand dollars, upon condition that 
the German churches would make up an equal sum, and 
with this mone3' a building was erected upon Forest 
street and fitted up for the publication of religious books, 
tracts, etc. But in 1874 the building was parth' de- 
stroyed by fire, and as it was without insurance the loss 
was heavy. A new building, however, was erected on 
Payne avenue, at the corner of Dalton street, and was 
completed for use in May, 1878. 
The following papers are published by the society : 
Der Muntere Saemann, a weekly Sunday-school paper. 
Der Sendbote, a weekly eight page German Baptist 
paper, the only one in this country. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 315 

Der Wegweiser, a monthly church pubHcation. 

Lections Blatter, monthly for Sunday-school work. 

Unsere Kleinen, a monthly for Sunday-school use. 

The German Publishing House of the Reformed Church in 
the United States was established in Cleveland at 991 Scran- 
ton avenue in 1860, when the publications consisted of the 
Reformirte Kirchen Zeitung, a weekly issue. The second 
venture was Der Lsemmehorte, a monthly and semi- 
monthly Sunday-school periodical. In 1876 Die Abend 
Lust, a paper for general circulation, was added to the 
other publications. Since then another monthly periodi- 
cal has been added, the Missionshote, and with the Lec- 
tions Blatter comprise the different publications of the 
establishment. 

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers' Journal 
was published first in January, 1867, at Rochester, New 
York, S. R. Mudge being the first editor. After re- 
moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana, Cleveland was selected 
as the final abiding place of the Journal, and it was 
established here in 1870. It is a forty-eight page pam- 
phlet devoted, as its name suggests, to the interests of 
locomotive engineers. It has an extensive circulation, 
not only in the United States and Canada but in Great 
Britian, India and Central America. 

The San and Voice was first issued as the Sunday Voice 
in October, 1871, by Messrs. W. S. Robison, L. O. Rawson, 
Thomas Whitehead and E. C. Hardy. During the first 
year, however, Mr. Robison purchased the other interests 
and became sole proprietor. 
The Voice was a pioneer Sunday paper in Cleveland, and 



316 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

was met by a strong prejudice that for a time made its 
publication a very doubtful venture. But the enterprise 
of the paper triumphed, and before the close of the second 
year it w^as established upon a good financial basis. 

In 1878, Hon. O. J. Hodge having purchased the Sunday- 
Post, it was consolidated with the Voice, becoming the 
Sunday Voice and Post. It afterwards resumed the origi- 
nal title— the Sunday Voice. In the fall of 1885 the Sun- 
day Sun was purchased by the Voice, and the two papers 
were united under the name of the Sun and Voice. Mr. 
0. J. Hodge is proprietor, W. R. Rose managing editor, and 
General A. Robertson assistant editor. 

The Cleveland Anzeiger was founded in August, 1871, by 
Henry Gentz, and issued tri-weekly as an independent Ger- 
man newspaper until August, 1872, when it was bought 
by a stock company of prominent Republicans of Cuya- 
hoga county and issued daily and weekly. Since that time it 
has been the German Republican organ of Northern Ohio. 
January, 1874, the stock company sold out to Bohm, 
Kraus & Company. Two years later Mr. Kraus became 
sole owner of the paper, but sold out September, 1877, to 
Mr. Kaufmann, one of the editors of the Cincinnati Volks- 
hlatt. Since that time the paper has been published by 
Mr. Kaufmann, who is its editor. Its circulation and m- 
fluence have become very large. It is recognized as one of 
the principal Republican German papers in the United 
States, and has a good circulation in Germany. It is 
issued as a morning daily, weekly and Sunday paper. 

The Cleveland Post was established as Die Biene in 
1872. It was Democratic in politics, and edited by Wil- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 317 

liam Miller. In 1876 a stock company was formed and 
the paper was published as an independent Sunday morn- 
ing weekly. Another change of name makes it the Cleve- 
land Post, edited by C. F. Thiele. 

The South Cleveland Advocate was started in 1873 by 
Harr}^ H. Nelson, and called All Around the Clock, but 
the name was afterwards changed to the South Cleveland 
Advocate. It is a thirty-two column Republican weekly, 
still under the proprietorship of Mr. Nelson. 

The Earnest Worker first appeared in June, 1874, under 
the editorial management of Miss Emma Janes. It was 
established by the Women's Christian Association as an 
organ and a source of revenue, and has been successful in 
both ways. Miss Janes was succeeded by Mrs. Howard 
Ingham, who was a successful editor. Now in the hands 
of Mrs. H. C. G. Arej, it is a flourishing paper, warmly 
received and well supported. 

The Catholic Universe was established in 1874 by Rt. 
Rev. R. Gilmour. It is edited by Manlc}^ T2II0 and has a 
large circulation. 

The* Catholic Knight, edited and published by J. J. 
Greeves, wields no small influence in Catholicity. 

The Christian Harvester was established in 1872 by 
Rev. Thomas K. Doty. 

Dennice Novvoreku the name of a Bohemian pap^r, 
published entirely in that language. It was founded in 
1877, and is now edited and published by Vaclav Snajdr. 

The Press was established as the Penny Press in Novem- 
ber, 1878, by Scripps and Sweeney of the Detroit Evening- 
News. It was quite an innovation among the staid and 



318 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

proper Cleveland papers, but won its way with surprising 
rapidity, bravely surmounting all obstacles. It has from 
the first been independent in politics, cutting and lashing 
alike the foibles of all parties. Its utter fearlessness and 
its disregard of person and position make it a terror to 
those so unfortunate as to offend its sense of fitness. It 
has been avowedly the advocate of the working people, 
and many a prominent official has cringed before its 
merciless stroke. The broad views of the managers are 
visible in the keen, concise editorials which give the Press 
its power. Its influence and circulation are large. 

The Sunday Journal was started by gentlemen on the 
Plain Dealer in 1883, and after several changes of proprie- 
torship and of fortune, it fell into the hands of these 
gentlemen, among them James S. Cockett, who assumed 
the management and retrieved the lost ground. In 1886 
W. Scott Robison purchased the interests of Mr. Cockett's 
partners and became editor of the paper. In the winter 
of 1887 the name was changed to the Sunday World. The 
paper has grown rapidly in circulation and influence 
during the past year, and has a bright future before it. 

The Magazine of Western History was originated in the 
fall of 1884 by W. W. and L. A. WiUiams. It is, as its 
name suggests, devoted to the historical literature of the 
West, and endeavors by its biographical sketches of prom- 
inent men to keep alive the memory of the benefactors of 
the West who laid the foundation of its prosperit}-. It is 
now edited b}- Mr. J. H. Kennedy. 

The Freie Presse, an independent German weekl}', was 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 319 

founded in 1885 by Henry Gentz, the founder of the 
Anzeiger. 

The Cleveland Volksfreund, a German tri weekly paper 
devoted to the interests of labor, was started in 1886 by 
the Knights of Labor and is published under their auspices. 

The Silver Dollar, a semi-monthly paper, was founded in 
1886 by Mr. E. J. Farmer. It is now recognized as one 
of the standard supporters of Bi-metallism in the United 
States and Europe. 

Grip is the suggestive title of a West Side paper founded 
in 1886. 

In addition to these periodicals of general circulation are 
a number of papers published by various companies, 
devoted to special interests and valuable in their respec- 
tive lines, which cannot be enumerated from their number 
and the limit of space devoted to this subject. 

Not less creditable than the journals they represented 
has been the record of the Cleveland journalists, a group 
of intelligent and advanced thinkers and courageous 
winters, whose histor^^ is inseparable from that of the 
community they helped to rear. Of these the veteran is 
probably Mr. Edwin Cowdes. Descended in a direct line 
from the Puritan thought and liberal principles that came 
over in the Mayflower, and born in Ashtabula county, 
Ohio, the nursery of Western Reserve eminence, the spirit 
of progress was an instinct, an inheritance to him. His 
newspaper career commenced at the age of eighteen, when 
he embarked in the printing business with Mr. T. H. 
Smead, and from that time he has never been without an 
interest in the Cleveland press. Mr. Cowles has been a 



320 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

pioneer in political advance, and through the Leader has 
foreshadowed several great reforms at times so much in 
advance of public feeling that their realization has been 
considered impossible. Of these were the first plan which 
led to the organization of the Republican party, and the 
suggestion of the abolition of slavery, nearly a year before 
the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. The need of 
the Cleveland Viaduct was first agitated by Mr. Cowles, 
resulting in the great bridge that is now a necessity as 
well as an ornament to the cit\\ The secret of Mr. 
Cowles' progressive action has been his life-long ambition 
that his paper should take the lead in the work of reform, 
the promulgation of progressive ideas and the elevation 
of humanity, and to oppose tj^ranny and injustice of every 
form. 

Hon. Richard C. Parsons was born in Connecticut in 
1826, and is descended from educated New England an- 
cestry. Mr. Parsons was so early drawn into political 
life that his career has been a long and brilliant one. He 
has always been more or less interested in journalism 
through the Herald and Leader, and has contributed much 
valuable matter to the press. He is an eloquent and pol- 
ished speaker, and a fine writer. His letters from Europe, 
particularly those historical and descriptive of Rome, and, 
very recently, from the shores of the Bosporus, reveal a high 
power to use the English smoothly and melodiously in 
vivid pictures and graphic narrative. 

Hon. John C. Covert was born in Norwich, Chenango 
county. New York, February 11, 1839. His journalistic 
career commenced in 1849, when he entered the printing 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 321 

office of Smead & Covvles, where he worked three years, 
and, later, one j'ear in the office of a campaign daily called 
the Forest City. After obtaining an education in the 
most laborious and persistent manner, he studied law and 
was admitted to the St. Louis bar in 1859. When the 
war broke out, his night and day struggle had made such 
inroads upon his constitution that he was rejected when 
he offered himself for enlistment. He accordingly started 
to Europe for the benefit of body and mind, walked all 
over France, acquired a good knowledge of the French, 
German, Spanish and Italian languages, and returned in 
1868, after a seven years' tour, recuperated in health. He 
commenced work upon the Leader as reporter, and has 
filled all the positions from reporter to managing editor, 
at w^hich he now rests. His address in favor of taxing 
church property, delivered while a member of the Legisla- 
ture, has been published in pamphlet form and received a 
wide circulation. Mr. Covert also wrote a poem on 
"Shakespeare" for a Press Club banquet about a year 
ago, which excited much admiration and was copied into 
a number of other papers. His literary work has mainly 
consisted of newspaper articles, and he has probably done 
as much as any man in Cleveland in the production of 
that fleeting world of thought which goes forth everj^ 
morning with the rays of the sun to disappear almost as 
completely as the sun when the day has gone. 

Mr. Covert is a stockholder and director in the Leader 
and president of the Cleveland Press Club. From his 
island cottage in the St. Lawrence, he writes breezy sum- 
mer letters for the Leader. 



322 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Mr. H. A. Griffin, the able editorial writer, and Mr. James 
B. Morrow, the efficient city editor, also contribute largely 
to the excellence of the Leader. 

The Plain Dealer boasts Messrs. L. E. and R. R. Holden, 
gentlemen whose culture and journalistic ability win 
recognition, and Mr. J. H. A. Bone, who bears a most envi- 
able reputation as a journalist, who is celebrated for his 
extensive reading and his ability as a critic. In addition to 
his newspaper work, Mr. Bone has contributed valuable 
articles to the leading magazines. 

Mr. N. S. Cobleigh, the excellent city editor, is also a 
factor in the standing of the paper. 

The leading spirits of the Press are Robert F. Paine, 
managing editor, J. M. Wilcox, editorial writer, and F. L. 
Purdy, city editor. 

Another professional journalist whose taste and ability 
has led him be\'ond the limits of newspaper columns is Mr. 
J. H. Kenned\', a native of Trumbull count}', Ohio. In 1872 
he became a reporter on the Daily Plain Dealer, and after- 
wards upon the Leader. In a A-ear and a half he was 
made city editor, retaining that position for five A-ears. 
After having been general news editor and editorial writer 
of that paper, associate editor of Daily Herald and of 
Sunday Voice, Mr. Kennedy sold out his interest in the 
Voice to take editorial charge of the Magazine of Western 
History, for wdiich he has furnished many articles upon the 
growth and development of the West. Mr. Kennedy has 
written manj^ poems of a high order, and has contributed 
short stories to Chicago Current, Literary Life and the 
newspapers, one of which was in the prize series of the Cur- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 323 

rent. He has been a most industrious writer, and fur- 
nished a vast amount of matter to the leading newspapers 
East and West, and is a member of the Board of Public 
Library Managers. 

W. Scott Robison, the present editor of the Sunday 
World, published the first Sunday newspaper in the city, 
the Voice, in 1871. He also started the Sunday Sun in 
1880. He is a versatile writer, and very direct and forci- 
ble in his editorials. 

Among those whose ability has made them public benefac- 
tors in their editorial capacity are conspicuous J. W. Gray, 
formerly editor of the Plain Dealer, and J. A. Harris and 
George A. Benedict of the Herald. They were pioneers 
whose devotion to principle, business enterprise and cour- 
age in crises raised their respective papers from financial 
embarrassment and gave them the standing which 
assured their long career. 

Colonel W. P. Fogg, former editor and part owner of 
the Herald, has contributed to the literature of Cleveland 
a great deal of elegantly written editorial work, and 
his extensive travels in unusual lines have been taken for 
the public as well as himself. The letters descriptive of his 
journey around the world, published in the Leader and 
afterwards in book form, illustrated, place the writer in 
the highest rank of American literary travelers. He 
describes in wonderful English journeyings through Japan, 
China, India and Egypt ; also, in other letters, the historic 
mines of Babylon and Nineveh; also in "Arabistan, Land 
of the Arabian Knights," he revels in the richness of his 
romantic subject. 



324 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

In these days when the American humorist monopolizes 
so much attention and appreciation of the public and has 
become so great a necessity to current literature, it is 
pleasant to remember that the founder of the most popu- 
lar school of distinctively American humor was connected 
with the Plain Dealer, and published his quaint produc- 
tions in its columns. Charles Farrar Browne is placed by 
the British reviews at the head of American humorists. 

The vein of good intention and utility that lav beneath 
his original style was of great good in the years preced- 
ing and during the civil war in showing in a true light 
many popular fallacies. His productions are filled with 
a keen yet delicate satire that, regarding certain subjects, 
afterwards became household maxims, and one stroke of 
his skillful pen was often sufficient to put in a ludicrous 
attitude some popular craze and destroy it. He was 
intensely patriotic. 

D. R. Locke, the well-known Petroleum V. Nasby, was 
also connected with the Plain Dealer for a time. 

E. V. Smalley, the widely known contributor to the 
leading magazines, was editor of the Herald from 1875 to 
1878. 

In addition to the above named gentlemen who -have 
been directly connected with the Cleveland press, is a 
large number of authors, many of them of wide reputa- 
tion, who have lived and written in Cleveland and may 
justly be claimed by the city. 

It is to be regretted in the case of all who are mentioned 
that their number and the limit of space will prevent the 
writing of any biography, although the lives of authors are 




^^If ' ' - 



^t'ff'm. Co. Bureau ofEn^ayCU) t-'- 



'^y^rZ/ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 325 

a source of unfailing interest. It is possible to give onlv 
meagre details of the literary- work of each, in some cases 
quite inadequate to the amount of work and standing of 
the author. 

Colonel Charles Whittlesej^ who was born in Connecti- 
cut, October 14, 1808, and died at Cleveland in 1886, has 
left the rich legac}^ of his long and busy career to the pub- 
lic. He was a naturalist, geologist, antiquarian, histo- 
rian, a soldier, surveyor and a practical man of business. 
His early scientific and geological discoveries, particu- 
larly those in the coal fields of Ohio and the copper and 
iron regions of Lake Superior, have opened the way to 
vast industries and wealth. He was interested in meteor- 
ology, tidal waves, oscillations, etc. He also found time 
for much research concerning the prehistoric races of Amer- 
ica, and his writings have given to the mound-builder a 
personality and a histor3\ Many notes and essays are not 
yet published in an enduring form— a fact to be regretted. 
His books are: 'Geological Deposits of Ohio,' 'United 
States Geological Surveys of Upper Alississippi,' 'United 
States Geological Surveys of Upper Peninsula of Michi- 
gan,' 'Life of John Fitch,' 'Fugitive Essays,' mostly his- 
torical, published at Hudson, Ohio, and in Smithsonian 
Institute; 'Ancient Works of Ohio,' 'Fluctuations of Lake 
Levels,' 'Ancient Mining on Lake Superior," 'Fresh Water 
Glacial Drift,' a collection of geological papers on the 
Western Reserve, published in 1866, with some discussions 
on "The Early History of Cleveland;" numerous articles 
in the Magazine of Western History. 

Hon. Harvey Rice is another of Cleveland's honored ben- 



326 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

efactors, having contributed to the public good the high- 
est good, the possibiHty of the education of the masses. 
He is the recognized founder of the laws upon which rests 
the public school system. He, too, was born in New Eng- 
land and has thus characteristically used his share of 
the Puritan inheritance in elevating his fellow-men and 
women. In the midst of his long and bus}^ life he has 
found time to write several books : 'Mount Vernon and 
Other Poems,' 'Letters from the Pacific Slope,' 'Nature and 
Culture,' 'Sketches of Western Life,' and 'Pioneers of the 
Western Reserve,' and a great number of essa\'S and 
sketches upon a variety of subjects which have been pub- 
lished in Eastern and Western magazines. The public have 
paid the books the compliment of demanding new editions. 
Dr. Jared P. Kirtland was born in Wallingford, Connec- 
ticut, in 1795, and came to Ohio at the age of fifteen. He 
was eminent as physician, scientist and naturalist. Dur- 
ing his practice in the country he acquired the love of 
nature that afterward led him to so great research. For 
twenty years of his life he was a student of natural science 
in animal nature. The publication of his extensive re- 
searches was made under the patronage of the Boston 
Historical Society, and brought him into prominent notice 
as a high authority in that department of science. In 
1838 he was appointed to the department of Natural 
History in the geological survey organized by the State of 
Ohio, and afterwards chosen to fill a chair in the Ohio 
Medical College at Cincinnati, and left it to fill a similar 
position in the Cleveland Medical College. His valued 
labors as a naturalist are perpetuated in the Kirtland 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 327 

Academy of Natural Sciences in Cleveland. He died at his 
home in Rockport, December 10, 1877. 

Dr. Addison P. Dutcher, a descendant of the early Dutch 
Huguenots, was born in Durham, New York, in 1818. 
He graduated from the New York College of Physics and 
Surgery in 1839, and practiced for some years in New 
York and Pennsylvania. In 1864 he was tendered the 
chair of Principles and Practice of Medicine in the Charity 
Hospital Medical College in Cleveland, and afterwards 
practiced in Cleveland, occupying a leading place in his 
profession. His contributions to medical literature have 
been extensive, and were first published in medical period- 
icals, having since been put into book form. They are: 
'Pulmonar\' Tuberculosis,' published by Appletons, in 
1874; 'Sparks from the Forge of a Rough Thinker,' con- 
sisting of essays; 'Two Voyages to Europe,' 'Selections 
from My Portfoho,' 'Common Places in Christian Theol- 
ogy.' He was an active worker in the abolition move- 
ment, and for years as speaker and w^riter took a 
prominent part in the effort to prohibit the sale of intoxi- 
cating liquors. He died in Cleveland in the winter of 
1883. 

Leonard Case, from the wealth of a cultivated mind 
endowed with natural gifts, left but two published me- 
mentos— " Treasure Trove," a legend of chivalry, a poem 
filling several pages of the Atlantic Monthly, and after- 
wards published separately and handsomely illustrated. 
The other was a poem, entitled " Rondonella " — the 
swallow— a rendering of the Italian of Tomasso Grossi's 



328 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

'Marco Visconte.' Both poems excited much comment 
and won the highest recommendation of the critics. 

Miss Constance F. Woolson, the author of 'Anne,^ 'East 
Angels,' and for long a contributor to the Atlantic, Har- 
per's Magazine, etc., and who now lives in Florence, Italy, 
spent her j^outh in Cleveland, being the daughter of a 
prominent business man in the city. Her loyalty to Cleve- 
land and her love of the lakes appear in line description 
and delicate touches of nature throughout her works. 

Benjamin F. Taylor, the brilliant and versatile author 
of 'Pictures of Life in Camp and Field,' 'Old time Pictures 
and Sheaves of Rh^^me,' 'The World on Wheels,' 'Summer 
Savory,' 'Between the Gates,' 'Songs of Yesterday,' 
'Dulce Domum' and 'Theophilus Trent,' was for a time a 
resident of Cleveland, and died in this city in 1885. 

Colonel John Hay has, perhaps, touched more hearts 
and endeared himself more lastingly to his readers, by his 
two poems "Jim Bludso " and "Little Breeches," than by 
his most polished production. Their simple pathos, 
their spirit of tender humanity, will make them live when 
books of stately lyrics are mildewed from disuse. Besides 
the volume of 'Pike County Ballads,' Mr. Hay's official 
residence in Madrid gave us the beautifully written volume 
'Castilian Da3^s.' His last joint work with Mr. Nicola, 
'The Life of Abraham Lincoln,' will be a classic in 
the annals of American history, being probably the only 
truly authoritative record of our representative American 
hero. Though his home is at Washington, he spends 
several months each vear in Cleveland. We can boast of 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 329 

no literary personage more wideh- known and appreciated 
than John Hay. 

Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton has won an enviable position in 
the literary galaxy of the day by the industry with which 
she has used her gifted and cultured pen and the tact with 
which she has made attractive to young people the high 
path to successful living in the old-fashioned sense. Mrs. 
Bolton's books and sketches are inspired by deep and 
noble philanthropy, visible in the exquisite motherliness of 
her writings for young people and the zeal with w^hich she 
has joined her husband in his labor to provide the masses 
with good literatui-e and lectures. She was one of the 
prime movers in early temperance work, and is said to have 
contributed more toward public sentiment in keeping the 
cause before the people than any other one agenc3^ Besides 
contributions to nearly forty periodicals, she has published 
the following books: 'Famous American Authors/ 'Girls 
who Became Famous,' 'Poor Boys who Became Famous 
Men,' 'Stories from Life,' 'Social Studies in England,' 
'How Success is Won;' and a volume of poems entitled 
'From Heart and Nature,' written jointly by Sarah K. 
and Charles K. Bolton, mother and son. 

Mr. C. E. Bolton was born in Massachusetts and gradu- 
ated from Amherst College in 1865. He spent six seasons 
in travehng through Europe. In 1880 he was a delegate 
to the World's Convention of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, and to the Sunday School centenary held in 
London. While abroad he corresponded for a number of 
leading journals, and has also w^ritten for St. Nicholas and 
Wide Awake. In 1881 he formed the Cleveland Educa- 



330 HISTORY OF clp:velaxd. 

tional Bureau, which gave each winter in the great taber- 
nacle to four thousand persons ti course of ten lectures 
preceded by concerts and half-hour preludes on impor- 
tant subjects, and choice brief books. The Century for 
January, 1885, gives an article upon the Educational 
Bureau from the pen of Washington Gladden. During the 
lecture seasons of 1885-6-7 he gave hundreds of lectures 
in the large cities East, West, North and South. 

Mrs. Lydia Hoyt Farmer, author of ' The Boys' Book of 
Famous Rulers,' 'Girls' Book of Famous Queens,' 'A Story 
Book of Science,' ' The Prince of the Flaming Star,' 'What 
She Made of Her Life,' has been contributing to the vari- 
ous departments of literature for the last ten years. She 
has written upon art, society and literature for different 
magazines and newspapers, ^besides furnishing several 
series of children's stories for St. Nicholas, Pansy, Sunday' 
Magazine and other popular magazines. Mrs. Farmer's 
books have been very flatteringly received by both the 
press and the public, the latter keeping them in constant 
demand. The latest of these, 'The Prince of the Flaming- 
Star,' is a fairy operetta, an elegant quarto volume, which 
is a striking example of the author's diversified talents, 
the works, music and illustrations all being from her facile 
hand. The operetta is in four acts, introducing the fairy 
realms of Heaven, Titiania's kingdom on earth, the 
"Flower Court" and a scene of general rejoicing among 
the fairies of both spheres. The score is full of plecising mel- 
odies and attractive airs. Mrs. Farmer is now engaged 
in preparing a ' Life of Lafayette, ' to be followed by a 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 331 

"Young Folks' History of the French Revolution/ both of 
which will be published the coming 3'ear. 

Elihu Jerome Farmer is a native of Ohio and was edu- 
cated at Hanerford College, Pennsylvania. His literary 
career began in 1871 when he wrote a series of brilliant 
letters from Wall street to the Cleveland Leader. In 1873 
he began the publication of the Pictorial World, a paper 
after the style of the New York Graphic, the earliest 
attempt at illustrated journalism in our city ; but the 
paper w^as in advance of the growth of the city, and for 
lack of proper support a paper that would have been an 
ornament to Cleveland was allowed to fold its pages and 
retire from public view. Mr. Farmer then for several years 
became a contributor to numerous newspapers and maga- 
zines throughout the country, and for a time successfull\- 
indulged the poetic mood. During three visits to the 
Rocky Mountains in 1881-82-83, Mr. Farmer contrib- 
uted a series of letters to the Leader entitled "Among 
the Rockies,' full of brilliant description and appreciation 
of nature. In 1882 Mr. Farmer published a pamphlet 
entitled "Statistics in Relation to Gold and Silver." In 
1883, 'Resources of Rocky Mountains,' a book to which 
the press gave a most flattering reception. In 1884 
appeared 'A Political and Historical Sketch.' In 1886 
Mr. Farmer prepared a pamphlet for the Plain Dealer 
entitled "The Plain Dealer Free Coinage Silver Bill and a 
Plea for Bi-metallism in the United States," followed by a 
much larger work entitled 'The Conspiracy Against Silver, 
or a Plea for Bi-metallism in the United States,' a work 
that has gone through two editions. Mr. Farmer is now 



332 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

proprietor of The Silver Dollar. He is soon to publish 
another pamphlet on the mone}- question, and is also 
engaged upon a historical work. 

Dr. Elroy M. Avery's first important literary work was 
as war correspondent of the Detroit Daily Tribune. The 
letters of this series covered a period of more than three 
years, and some of them were widely copied. At the close 
of the war their author became the Michigan University 
correspondent of the Tribune and city editor of the Ann 
Arbor Courier. In 1870 he was taken upon the editorial 
staff of the Tribune and there continued until the summer 
of 1871, when he took charge of the schools of East Cleve- 
land, now the East End. In 1876 Burrows Brothers, of 
this city, published Avery's 'Elements of Physics,' which 
was immediately adopted for use in the high schools of 
Cleveland. In 1878 appeared his 'Elements of Natural 
Philosoph}^' Shelden & Co., New York, also adopted in 
hundreds of high schools in the United States and Canada, 
and soon became what it remains — the leading American 
text-book of its class. It "hit the market," and its success 
was so immediate and decided that its pubHshers called 
for more "copy." They have since published the 'Ele- 
ments of Chemistry,' 'The Complete Chemistry,' 'First 
Principles of Natural Philosoph}-,' 'Modern Electricity 
and Magnetism,' 'Teacher's Handbook and Physical Tech- 
nics.' All of these books have been literary, educational 
and commercial successes. Their annual revision consti- 
tutes no small part of their author's work. For several 
years Dr. Avery acted as literary " Controversialist-in- 
chief," for the Brush Electric Light Company. His lance 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 333 

'was pointed cis well as poliphed, and many of his tourna- 
ments attracted general attention among electricians and 
electric light men. Notable among these achievements 
was the annihilation of the Louisville "Pirates" in Janu- 
ary, 1883. In 1886 his plea for 'Words Correctly Spoken' 
was published, and twenty thousand copies of this bro- 
chure were sold within the first six months, and the 
demand still continues active. For the last two or three 
3^ears Dr. Averv has given most of his time to studies 
in American History, in which field he intends to occiipy 
most of the still remaining years of his literary' life. 

Hon. A. G. Riddle, although commencing a literary 
career late in life, and probably as a rest from the toils of 
a busy law practice, has given the w^orld a series of 
pictures of Western Reserve life, at once truthful and 
attractive. His first novel, 'Bart Ridgely,' written at 
the age of fifty-seven, and generally thought to be the 
author's best, was very flatteringh' received. The follow^- 
ing year saw the 'The Portrait' published, like its prede- 
cessor, at Boston, a semi-historical novel of the planting 
of Mormonism in Northern Ohio, the rise of the Disciple 
church, etc. The history is accurate. Judge Jere BlacI: 
considered these two to be of the best American novels. 
In 1875 was published 'Alice Brand,' an unpleasant tale 
of Washington in the lurid days at the close of the war, 
and recognized as a truthful and graphic sketch of that 
mephitic period. This was followed by a series of tales in 
the Leader, published later in a volume entitled ' The 
House of Ross,' containing some of the author's best 
Avork. ' Hart and his Bear,' a boy and girl storv, appeared 



334 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

next. In addition were published three poems for private 
circulation. In 1873 the Morrisons published a volume 
of preliminary law lectures delivered to the first class of 
Howard Universit3\ 'The Life of Garfield' is also well 
known; also 'Sketches of Wade.' All these works, save 
'Alice Brand,' were of the Western Reserve, strong with 
the flavor and color, the spirit of the Reserve, of the 
pioneers; and the author's intense love of that life and 
time, of portions of that lovely and picturesque region, has 
evidently been the inspiration of his works. 

Mr. J. J. Elwell was from 1857 to 1861 editor of the 
Western Law Monthly, a law journal of large circulation 
in the West. In 1859 he wrote and published a work on 
'Malpractice and Aledical Evidence, Comprising the Ele- 
ments of Medical Jurisprudence.' This book has reached 
its fourth edition and becoijie a standard work on the 
subject, and has been well received in this country and in 
England and Germany. Mr. Elwell has written for vari- 
ous journals— the North American Review, Medico-Legal 
Journal, and Medical Ouartertus. 

Mr. Jesse B. Bishop compiled and published 'The Cleve- 
land Law Reporter,' 'Memoir of the Rev. S. W. Adams, 
D. D.,' 'In Memoriam Hon. Franklin T. Backus.' 

Mrs. H. G. C. Arey's literary work commenced when as 
a child she was caught \vriting a rh\'med version of some 
local occurrence in her writing-book, between the fine copy 
and the coarse copy of the olden time. The production 
w^as read aloud by the teacher in spite of the protests of 
the small authoress, and from that time she was besieged 
by local papers for contributions. Mrs. Arev's sketches 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 335 

were in time published in the Cleveland papers and in 
Eastern papers and magazines. At length Mrs. Arey 
accepted the editorship of a child's magazine, after which, 
at her suggestion, a household magazine was started, 
the first of its kind, and the forerunner of the number now 
in the field which have added so much to the dignity of 
housekeeping. A volume of Mrs. Arey's poems was pub- 
lished by J. C. Derby, New York, and in 1884 a small 
volume entitled 'Home and School Training,' b}' the Lip- 
pincotts. Mrs Arey is now editor of the Earnest Worker. 

Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins has been a prime mover in the 
question of Woman's Suffrage. She has been a prominent 
lecturer for the last twenty years, going East and West, 
North and South, and has held numerous responsible 
positions in the organization. Mrs. Perkins is also an 
active worker in the temperance cause, and now fills the 
office of State Organizer. She has written extensively for 
periodicals and has published two or three books, the last 
of which is ' Helen : or Will She Save Him ?' All were most 
kindly received by the press. 

Dr. Hiram C. Haydn, in the busy pastorate of a large 
church, has found opportunity to crystallize some trains 
of thought into an enduring form in 'Death and Beyond,' 
Dartmouth prize essaj^ on 'Lay Effort,' and 'The Blessed 
Man,' a booklet on the first psalm, in all a valuable con- 
tribution to the religious literature of the day. 

Rev. James A. Bolles was the author of the 'American 
Church Catholic," Confirmation Explained and Defended,* 
'Holy Matrimony,' and the 'Rector's Vade Mecum.' 



336 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Rev. L. Pollock Lynn published a volume entitled 
'Living Thoughts of Living Thinkers.' 

Mr. E. R. Sill published a volume of poems entitled 
'The Hermitage.' 

Mrs. Rebecca D. Rickoff has been the author of a number 
of highly successful books, both educational and literary, 
and is an industrious contributor to the leading journals. 
Some of her essa^^s and poems have attracted much 
attention. 

Rev. James M. Hoyt is the author of 'Glances on the 
Wing at Foreign Lands,' published in 1871, a volume of 
old world travel, written for private circulation but de- 
manded by the public, who appreciated the interest of the 
places visited and seen through cultivated eyes, and the 
literary beauty of the work. 

Mr. Charles C. Baldwin has made a study of the an- 
tiquities of Ohio and written extensively upon the mounds 
and their creators. He has written several pamphlets for 
the Western Reserve Historical Society, and some for the 
Magazine of Western Historv and other publications. 

Mrs. Gertrude Wickham was probably the first lady 
employed editorially upon one of the daily papers. Her 
bright and graceful pen was busy upon the Herald for 
several years, and afterwards upon the Leader, to which 
she furnished a great deal of material. She origi- 
nated and carried into execution personally, the idea 
of the Women's Repositorv, for the assistance of poor 
women. Airs. Wickham is now engaged in a unique under- 
taking, a series of papers upon the ' Dogs of Famous 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 337 

People, ' which were eagerly contracted for by St. Nicholas, 
and will be published in its columns at an early date. 

Airs. W. A. Ingham has been a most active promoter of 
all literary and educational interests and has contributed 
to a number of newspapers. She opened the way lor a 
new form of social development in Cleveland, being the 
first lady to read an essa^- before a public audience in this 
city. She is a lad}' of broad culture and advanced thought, 
and has given many delightful addresses, as well as many 
instructive and interesting letters over her nom de plume 
of Anne Hathav/a}'. 

Mrs. Howard W. Ingham has been a busy and useful 
writer in the line of Christian and charitable work, and 
her productions have also the merit of literarv excellence. 

Mr. Levi F. Bauder has sought relaxation from the dry 
and barren field of the law, in a delightful volume of 
poems entitled 'Passing Fancies,' containing manv deli- 
cate touches of poetic color and fine shades of thought, 
elegantly expressed. 

Mrs. Sarah E. Bierce, secretary of the Women's Press 
Association, is a bright, facile, story writer, construing the 
English both forcibly and gracefully. She is at present 
connected with the Plain Denier. 

Rev. Frederick Burke left a volume of posthumous 
sermons. 

Mrs. Etta Luce Gilchrist is the anonymous author of 
'Apples of Sodom,' published in 1884, a novel which does 
not need the apology of its humane purpose to be of deep 
interest. Roused by personal knowledge of the abomina- 
tions of Mormonism, Mrs. Gilchrist had the courage, at a 



338 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

time when the subject was considered unapproachable to 
a lady, to write this plea in behalf of the women of Utah. 
It is a simple, realistic story told in a graphic, vivid st\'le, 
in whose pathos the reader cannot fail to suspect the fact 
that it IS truth and not fiction. The press of the entire 
country gave the book a splendid reception, one of the 
most flattering notices appearing in the Salt Lake Trib- 
une. Mrs. Gilchrist has written extensively for periodicals, 
and is said to have another book in process of prej^ara- 
tion. 

Frank George Carpenter, the chief of the Washington 
Bureau of the Cleveland Leader, is a native of Mansfield, 
Ohio, and is about thirty years of age. He has been in 
journalism since his school days, publishing a paper on 
the day of his graduation. He has traveled extensively in 
the United States, Europe and North Africa, and has con- 
tributed historical and descriptive articles to prominent 
papers in the country and to all the leading magazines. 
He is well known throughout the West as the author of 
the gossipy "Carp" letters in the Leader from Washing- 
ton. His letters now appear in the papers of the Ameri- 
can Press Association, and there is hardly a congressional 
district in which he has not one or more papers. 

Emma H. Adams is a name familiar to all readers of the 
I^eader since ISS-i, from the pleasant descriptive letters of 
the Pacific coast that has appeared in its columns, also in 
the New Orleans Picayune and other papers. She has 
published 'To and Fro in Southern California,' in 1887, 
and ' Digging the Top Off.' She has now in preparation a 
third volume, to be called ' Here and There in Oregon, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 339 

Washington and British Columbia.' She returns to the 
coast at the holidays to resume literary work in the 
Northern Pacific Coast region. 

C. L. Hotze, Esq., now a practicing attorney in our city, 
in 1871 published a little school book, for the use of 
pupils in the higher grades of our common schools, enti- 
tled 'First Lessons in Physics.' Ten years later a sequel 
to it was published b\' him, 'First Lessons in Physiology,' 
followed by 'Questions and Problems in Physics.' These 
books are to initiate young people in the rudiments of 
science, who might never attend high schools and, there- 
fore, have no other opportunity for learning something 
about these sciences. These books circulate widely in the 
schools of the country, particularly in the West. 

Rev. George Thomas Bowling, whose eloquence and 
rare elocutionary gifts in the pulpit and upon the rostrum 
have made his name a household word, has also found 
time for some elegant literary work. His one novel, 'The 
Wreckers,' although published in 1885, has gone through 
several editions. His sermons are published regularlv in 

The Pulpit of To-day, while he is regular correspond- 
ent for a number of periodicals, and is a popular lecturer in 
lyceums. Like most busy people, he has work planned for 

the future. 

Hon. Martin A. Foran also published a novel, entitled 

'The Other Side,' in 1885, a Trades Union storv, which 

attracted a good deal of attention. 
Rt. Rev. G. T. Bedell, Bishop of Ohio, is the author of 

'The Pastor,' a book of six hundred pages, valuable to 

clerg3nnen and their members. 



340 HISTORY OP^ CLEVELAND. 

Walter Buell has published 'The Life of Joshua R. Gid- 
dings,' a well-written biography of interest to all admireis 
of its subject. He is an able journalist. 

J. P. Abernethj, superintendent of telegraph, published 
'The Modern Service of Commercial and Railway Teleg- 
raphy in Theory and Practice.' It is acknowledged to 
be the best and most practical telegraph book ever 
published. 

Charles G. C. Lagervall has given one of the very few 
translations from the Swedish that have ever been made. 
It is a rendition of ' Royalists and Republicans,' a historical 
novel of the French Revolution, by H. Af. Trolle, into 
exceeding clear and vivid English. 

Rev. A. H. Washburne left a volume of posthumous 
sermons. 

Dr. James M. Eells is the author of a 'Life of Samuel 
Eells.' 

Ex-Judge G. M. Barber has written two volumes — 'Book 
of the Law,' published in 1886, by Lauer & Yost, and 
'Notary's Guide,' by Ingham, Clarke & Co., in 1887. 

Mrs. May Alden Ward has recently made an addition 
of value to the higher class of literature in her 'Life of 
Dante, 'the only English work of the kind on either side of 
the ocean. From the kind welcome given the book by the 
press, it has evidentl}- supplied a lack and met with keen 
appreciation. Leading papers in all parts of the country 
unite in commending the scholarship, the clearness and 
elegance of style, the modesty and absence of pedantry of 
the ' Life of Dante, ' as well as the great good taste with 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 341 

which the facts are selected and arranged into a fascinating 
story. 

Mr. A. T. Brewer has published lately a book entitled 
'Ohio Corporations.' 

Mr. Thomas D. West, the enterprising foundry man, has 
accomplished the unusual feat of so entirely mastering his 
occupation as to I'cvolutionize it for those who will follow 
him. His book, 'American Foundry Practice,' was first 
published in 1883, and proved to be of such value to 
molders that it immediately ran through five editions 
and the sixth is now in press, while his second book, on a 
kindred subject, is already in the third edition. The work 
is largeh' sought after in Europe, as well as in this country, 
and is said by all practical artisans far to surpass any 
work ever written on the melting and molding of iron in 
iron foundries. The kindly care with which the author 
has endeavored to make easier the w^a\' of apprentices, to 
detail the cause of disaster and its preventions, in his one 
hundred aphorisms, is to be especialh^ commended. 

Mrs. N. S. Springer wrote a novel, published in 1883, 
entitled, 'A Cloud}' Sky,' which has passed into thesecond 
edition. Messrs. Norton T. Horr and Mr. Bemus have 
lately published a joint production, entitled, 'Municipal 
Police Ordinances.' Captain Frank Mason, our consul at 
Marseilles, has written a ' Life of Garfield ' that is authen- 
tic and well received. John Davenport Crehore, C. E., is 
the author of 'Mechanics of the Girder,' published Janu- 
ary, 1887. It is a treatise on bridges and roofs, which 
bears internal evidence of patient industry and scholarly 
ability. The author is happy in choice of words, in clear- 



342 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

ness of statement and in logieal method, so that no ambi- 
guity' exists as to his meaning, and no difficulty is experi- 
enced in following his argument. The press notices are 
very flattering. 

Dr. Dudley P. Allen is the writer of "Medicine in the 
Western Reserve, "in the Magazine of Western History. 

Colpnel W. F. Hinman is the writer of ' Corporal Si 
Klegg and his "Pard," ' a book of more than seven hun- 
dred pages with nearly two hundred illustrations, descrip- 
tive of the experiences of "Si" during the war. Some of 
the chapters were published serially some time ago in the 
Washington Tribune and were so highly appreciated as 
covering new ground in the manysided history of the war, 
that, at the request of hundreds of friends, Colonel Hin- 
man has collected and enlarged them into the present 
volume. 

Mr. W. H. Van Nortwick came to Cleveland from Jerse\^ 
City, his former home, in 1880, and was engaged as asso- 
ciate editor of the Leader from that time until 1885. He 
was editorial writer of the Press for some time after- 
wards. Mr. Van Nortwick is an old newspaper man. 
He has contributed to Frank Leslie's, the New York 
World, Times, and other papers, and is the author of a 
book, entitled, 'Yanks and Johnnies,' now in press, which 
will be out in December next. Of this prospective book 
the Jamestown Journal says : "Mr. Van Nortwick will be 
remembered as one of the founders of the New Jersey 
Editorial Association. ' Yanks and Johnnies ' deals w^holly 
with the comic side of the late civil war, and consists of 
humorous sketches and anecdotes which will be illustrated 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 343 

by competent artists. Although the work is of a humor- 
ous character, yet the incidents narrated are really a part 
of the country's war history. The material for this forth- 
coming volume has been about equallv drawn from 
Northern and Southern sources, and the author has very 
properly dedicated his work to the surviving veterans of 
the Federal and Confederate armies. The book will con- 
sist of six hundred pages or more, and as it is the first and 
•only one of its kind, it wnll undoubtedly meet with a wnde 
circulation. C. L. Webster & Co. are the publishers." 

'Cleveland, Past and Present: its Representative Men,' 
comprising biographical sketches of pioneer settlers and 
prominent citizens, published by Maurice Joblin, a book 
of five hundred pages, and is valuable for reference; also 
'The History of Cuyahoga County,' published in 1879. 

In addition to the authors who have been mentioned 
above are a large number of well known essayists in pri- 
vate circles, and writers of newspaper articles, whose work 
entitles them to notice, but whom it is impossible to men- 
tion, on account of their great number and the limit of 
space. 

Frederick T. Wallace for many years has been known, 
especially by his intimate acquaintances, as a journalistic 
and magazine w^riter. He was born in Vermont in 1820, 
studied law and w^as admitted to the bar in Litchfield, 
Connecticut, in 1844, and settled in Berkshire county, 
Massachusetts, in 1845. He was elected to the Legisla- 
ture of that State in 1848, the eventful year of the second 
French revolution, the fall of Louis Philippe, the advent 
of Lamartine, and the discoverv of gold in California. 



344 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

He was elected a member of the Convention of 1853, to 
revise the constitution of that State. That was a 
remarkable convention even for Massachusetts, having 
among its members Benjamin F. Hallet, Marcus Morton, 
Governor Briggs, N. P. Banks, George S. Boutwell, Anson 
Burlingame, Benjamin F. Butler, Richard H. Dana, 
Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson, names that subse- 
quently in Congress and in the war became familiar to all. 
Mr. Wallace once modestly remarked to the writer that 
his only distinction in that convention was in being its 
youngest member. 

When Kossuth visited Massachusetts and was on his 
way from Springfield to Boston by special train, Mr. Wal- 
lace was selected to make a brief address of welcome to 
the famous Hungarian patriot, which he did from the 
platform of a local station, the train stopping long enough 
to enable the distinguished National guest to respond in his 
most fascinating manner, and then v^^ave adieu to several 
hundred citizens as the train drew out amid their loud 
huzzas. 

He came to Cleveland in 1854, and has been officially 
connected with the municipal government as a member of 
the Council for two years, 1856-57, and as Assistant City 
Solicitor for six years, from 1875 to '81. 

As a political writer Mr. Wallace's articles attracted 
attention for their very readable qualities, clearness of 
statement, happy illustration, and a vein of sarcasm mod- 
ified by an under-current of humor. The late J. W. Gray 
said of him that he was the onl}^ man he would trust in 
his editorial columns without first examining his articles, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 345 

"for," said he, "he knows what wotto write as well as what 
to write and how to write it well." During the exacting 
Chase-Payne canvass of 1857, he largely supplied the 
editorial columns of Mr. Gray's paper, and subsequently 
when the editor was for two \^ears afflicted, and until his 
death, he represented Mr. Gray in his editorial columns. 

Besides for several years there was rarely a Democratic 
State Convention to which he did not silently suppl}- one 
or more, and sometimes every plank in the platform. 

Since the death of Douglas, whom he greatly admired. 
Mr. Wallace has taken but little interest in politics, having 
been too long behind the scenes not to know its hollow 
emptiness. Occasionally^ however, he has in recent years 
lent his pen to prepare the way for the political advance- 
ment of some personal friend. In May, 1864,immediatelv 
after the second great battleof the "Wilderness," Governor 
Brough appointed him one of a commission of gentlemen 
to visit the scene of conflict to look after the wounded 
men of the Ohio regiments, and to supply as far as possi- 
ble their temporary wants, and for that purpose to draw 
on the State Agent at Washington for whatever might be 
deemed necessary. His report thereon was so far grati- 
fying to the Governor that it was made one of the accom- 
panying documents of his next message to the Legislature. 

In 1882 Mr. Wallace found himself much out of health 
through nervous prostration and other afflictions, but 
managed nevertheless to amuse himself by publishing an 
exceedingly pleasant and readable book, entitled. 'Men 
and Events of Half a Century, ' beinga collection of a few 
of his miscellaneous papers and public addresses, among 



346 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

which we specially note the remarkabh^ chaste and beau- 
tiful address on the dedication of Riverside Cemeter}' ; the 
South Side Park dedicatorv; "Sherlock J. Andrews: aMem- 
ory and a Tear;" an amusing and prophetic paper, entitled 
' ' Viaduct Reflections, ' ' and an admirable and graceful classi- 
cal parallel, "Agrippina and Lucretia," "The Return of 
Germanicus and Garheld," inspired bv the Presidential 
obsequies of 1881. 

Mr. Wallace has loiig been recognized as a writer of a 
peculiar and graceful style, and whose quiet humor, which 
pervades his book, is a reminder of the pages of the Spec- 
tator and Diedrich Knickerbocker. Many pleasant enco- 
miums of individuals and the press have been pronounced 
upon his book and literary style. 

In 1882-83 Mr. Wallace devoted six months to travel 
and observation abroad, extending his tour to Egypt, 
visiting Alexandria, Cairo, the Pyramids and the land of 
Goshen ; in Europe visiting Rome, Na[)les, Venice, Paris 
and London. Again, in 1884, he went to London intend- 
ing to remain for a few years in business relations, but 
after a year he found his vital force not adecjuate to with- 
stand the fogs of a London winter, and, under the advice 
of physicians, returned in 1886. He has since been 
engaged in literarv pursuits. His reading is in the line of 
history and in the literature of the sciences, especiall3' 
geologv and astrononi}-, with a touch of antiquarian 
lore.— [Ed. 

Mr. B. A. Hinsdale has performed not only a large 
amount but a great variety of literary work. On the 
founding of the Christian Standard in this city in 1866, he 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 347 

became one of the editorial staff. In 1869, on the removal 
of the Standard to Cincinnati, his editorship ceased, but he 
continued to be the most extensive contributor to the 
paper. In 1868 Mr. Hinsdale became a leading contribu- 
tor to the Christian Quarterly. He was also for a time 
one of the editors of this paper, and has been a frequent 
contributor to large numbers of magazines and other 
periodicals, educational, religious, historical, political, etc. 
Mr. Hinsdale's first books were: 'The Genuineness and 
Authenticity of the Gospels,' Cincinnati, 1872, received 
with great favor, being highly spoken of in the British 
quarterlies. The next was ' The Jewish Christian Church,' 
1878, and 'Ecclesiastical Tradition,' 1879, both works 
that impressed the reading public and called out mau}^ 
favorable opinions of the press. In 1880 appeared the 
'Republican Text-Book for 1880,' that still remains the 
best account of President Garfield's public Hfe down to his 
nomination at Chicago ever written. 'President Garfield 
and Education,' J. R. Osgood & Company, 1881, is in part 
a history of Garfield's life as student and teacher, but 
mainly a collection of his addresses and speeches on educa- 
tional subjects, with introductions. 

This is the fullest account of Garfield's life at Hiram as 
pupil, teacher and citizen, ever published. Soon after the 
President's death, Mrs. Garfield appointed Air. Hinsdale 
editor of his works, and they appeared from the press of 
J. R. Osgood & Company, 1882 and 1883, in two octavo 
volumes of about eight hundred pages each, with preface, 
notes and introductions b}' the editor. Mr. Hinsdale's 
last book was 'Schools and Studies,' a collection of four- 



348 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

teen addresses and essays on educational subjects, in 1884-. 
No educational discussions for many years have called 
forth stronger encomiums from high authorities than 
these. Mr. Hinsdale has contributed largely to the pam- 
phlet literature of the day, in which he has dealt with a 
wnde range of topics. Mention should also be made of his 
four reports to the Cleveland Board of Education w^hile 
superintendent of the schools. It is understood that Mr. 
Hinsdale is now engaged in new works, the names of which 
will, no doubt, be given to the public. — [Ed. 

By no means the least brilliant in the galaxy of tiie 
htterateurs of Cleveland is a lad}^ whose modest}- has lost 
to her the credit of much good work in the literary field. 
I refer to Mrs. Lizzie H. Neff, the writer of the foregoing- 
paper. She has written as a pastime under assumed 
initials, carefully guarded, since her school days, and has 
produced a great variet}^ of bright articles and charming- 
stories. Among the publications tO which she has con- 
tributed may be mentioned. Woman's Journal, Youth's 
Companion, The Current, Western Advocate, Globe Demo- 
crat (St. Louis), Commercial Gazette (Cincinnati) and the 
Kansas City Journal. Noticeable among her fictitious pro- 
ductions are the exquisite short stories brought out bj^ 
McClure, in which she has shown decided originality of 
style. She never writes without an object, and that object 
is the portrayal ol' character. In this she has been most 
successful in her Southern stories, of which "An Ugly 
Dog," "Jean," and "Her Soldier." are the best. " Kath- 
erine," "Soil and Soul," and "The Colonel's Wife," are 
gems of good taste, ingenuity and brightness. 



HISTORY OF clp:veland. 349 

Slie finds a ready nijirketfor her literature in the Eastern 
ma;^azines, in which a number of her articles will appear 
next 3'ear. Mrs. Nefif's work is highly appreciated by pub- 
lishers and readers. She has never made an avocation 
of writing, but should she ever decide to do so, she can 
hardly fail of a brilliant success as a professional literary 
woman. — [Ed. 



350 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHARITIES AND CHURCHES. 



CHARITIES. 

IN strong contrast to the theological zeal which, in cen- 
turies not long passed away, burned men's bodies, pil- 
laged their homes, and sometimes devastated an entire 
country for the salvation of souls, is the humane spirit of 
the religion of to-day, which seeks to save the soul, not 
bj^ the destruction of the body but by its preservation. 
Theology has converted humanity at the point of the 
sword. In turn Christianity has humanized theolog\^ by 
the gentle w^arfare taught so long ago in a sermon by 
the sea. 

It is learned at last that the new law of love is more 
potent than the old law of vengeance, that the blessing of 
the merciful is greater than the reward of the warrior- 
priest. It is remembered that the conscience of the starv- 
ing one is not acute, the morals of the shivering cannot be 
upon a high plane. It has been noted that we are told to 
ask "Give us our daily bread " before we plead "Forgive 
us." Therefore, there are sermons in the loaves of bread,. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 351 

there are prayers that reach to Heaven in flannel garments, 
and paeans of praise even in the cups of cold water. So 
fully recognized is the claim of the unfortunate that the 
system of charitable organizations and institutions has 
become almost a religion of itself, and its ramifications 
extend through the substrata of society until they touch 
almost every class of sin and suffering. It is, perhaps, 
more than coincidence that the chronology of the rise and 
development of benevolent work corresponds exactly to 
that of the admission of women to an equal footing with 
men in church and society, and their subsecjuent education 
and development. 

A significant fact in this connection is that the most 
comprehensive, practical and successful charities in this 
country of noble institutions have been originated and 
executed by women. The great Sanitary Commission, 
during the civil war, the various Women's Missionary 
Societies, Temperance Unions, and Relief and Memorial 
Corps, all National organizations, are evidences of patient, 
plodding work in concert. 

The record of our own city in this line is highly credita- 
ble to its broad and generous humanity, some of the 
movements being initial, and many having gained a point 
of usefulness that makes their continuance a public neces- 
sity. The largest and, naturally, the most successful are 
those unconnected with any church, and working inde- 
pendently. 

Probably the first permanent benevolent institution of 
an\^ note is the Protestant Orphan Asylum, organized in 
January, 1852, at a meeting held for the purpose in the 



352 HISTORY OF clevp:land. 

Stone Church. A board of managers, consisting of twelve 
ladies, was appointed, and all responsibilities were placed 
in their hands. 

The ladies went to work immediately, to arrange the 
details of the little household, and in April, a house at the 
corner of Ohio and Erie streets having been leased for the 
purpose, the domicile was established with a famih^ of 
eleven children under eight \^ears of age. 

Miss Sophia Hewitt gave her services gratuitously for 
two years as superintendent and teacher. An act of in- 
corporation was soon obtained and a constitution 
adopted. In 1853 an acre of land, at the corner of Kins- 
man street and Willson avenue, was donated for the site 
of a more commodious building, and in June of 1855 the 
asylum moved to its new quarters. 

An additional acre was afterwards purchased by the 
asylum. For the first ten years the institution was 
dependent mainly upon contributions, most of which were 
personally solicited by the ladies. A small permanent 
fund was donated by benevolent gentlemen of the city. 
In 1853 the bequest of Captain Levi Sartwell, who had 
bequeathed his entire property to the asylum, placed the 
institution upon a surer footing. In 1877 and '78 Mr. 
Leonard Case donated a valuable tract of land, four and 
one-fourth acres, on St. Clair street, as a site for a new- 
building, but the officers were unable to use it until the 
generous donation of Mr. J. H. Wade, forty thousand dol- 
lars, made the new building a reality. Another generous 
gift from Dr. Alleyne Maynard, in memory of his wife, 
fitted up and maintains the hospital department of tb^ 





/n^yc.^-^.^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 353 

asylum. It is now as it stands, one of the handsomest 
and best appointed buildings of the kind in the West. 
The earlier bequests and donations form a permanent 
fund, the interest of which only is expended for the sup- 
port of the asylum. The aim of the institution is to care 
for orphan children during their helpless years and to find 
homes for them, where the\' will be carefully reared and 
educated. Under the present careful management it is one 
of the important safeguards of society. The present offi- 
cers are: Mr. Douglas Perkins, president; Dan. P. Eells, 
treasurer; A. H. Shunk, superintendent; Mrs. Julia W. 
Shunk, matron. Of the Board of Managers: Mrs. R. P. 
Wade, president; Mrs. S. L. Severance and Mrs. Henry 
Chisholm, vice-presidents; Miss Anne W^alworth, secre- 
tary. 

In the spring of the same year that originated the Prot- 
estant Orphan As\dum, Rt. Rev. Amadeus Rappe, Bishop 
of Cleveland, by personal exertion established a small hos- 
pital for the care of the sick and injured of the city, on 
Monroe street, on the West Side, and for several 3'ears the 
sisters in charge cared for all who came. The civil war, 
how^ever, sent so many sufferers home for care that the 
accommodations were wholly inadequate, and the Bishop 
appealed to the public to come to his aid in building a 
hospital suitable to the needs of the city. The citizens, 
without reference to creed or nationality, responded lib- 
erally, so that in the spring of 1865 the spacious building 
on Perry street, between Garden and Marion, streets was 
open to the public. It had cost seventy-five thousand 
dollars. The care of patients and the general management 



354 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

of the institution was confided to the Sisters of Charity 
of St. Augustine, and under their faithful care and the skill 
of the able staff of physicians, the hospital soon took a 
high rank among institutions of the kind in the country. 
In 1873-1874 additions were made under the auspices of 
Bishop Gilmour. costing forty-seven thousand dollars, so 
that in point of comfort, convenience and medical appli- 
ances the hospital is second to none in the country. The 
superior is Sister Thomas, the medical staff are : Drs. W. 
J. Scott, G. C. E.Weber, J. Bennett, H.J. Herrick, Proctor 
Thayer, D. B. Smith, B. W. HoUiday. Consulting physi- 
cians, Drs. H. W. Kitchen, Geo. C. Ashmun, Dudley P. Allen, 
H. J. Lee, M. L. Brooks, Jr., R. D. Fry. Visiting physicians, 
Drs. W.J. Scott, D. Milliken, and H. H. Powell. 

The autumn of 1852 saw also the beginning of another 
worth}' institution — St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum, and 
also inaugurated by Bishop Rappe. 

The Sisters of Charit\^ (Mother Ursula being superior) 
promised to take charge of the orphan boys. The Cath- 
olics of the diocese responded to the call for means, and a 
two story frame house was soon erected. Four years 
later this had become so much too small that a large brick 
building was commenced on the same site, although it 
was not completed for some A-ears. It has sheltered and 
cared for a large number of boys. Sister Mary Alexis is 
the present superior. 

There have since been established St. Joseph's Orphan 
Asylum on Woodland avenue, Sister Ann Hogan, superior, 
and St. Mary's Female Orphan Asylum, 103 Harmon 
street, Miss Mary LeMasson, superior. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 355 

The Jewish Orphan Asylum, I. 0. O. B., was opened Sep- 
tember 29, 1868, in a building on Woodland avenue, pur- 
chased at a cost of about thirty-two thousand dollars, 
but it became necessary to enlarge the buildings in a short 
time. The children received during the first year numbered 
one hundred and thirty-three. They came from many and 
distant States. 

The institution has been ably managed and its financial 
record has been creditable to the officers. A school building 
was erected in 1879 at cost of twenty thousand dollars. 
The present management consists of A. Hart, president; 
D. Adler, vice-president; J. Rohrheimer, treasurer; S. 
Wolfenstein, secretary and superintendent; M. Buchanan, 
finance secretary; Mrs. C. Steiner, matron. 

The Young Men's Christian Association was organized 
in 1866 and at once became one of the leading organiza- 
tions of the city. In 1872 the association purchased the 
building, 79 Public Square, where its headquarters remained 
until 1881. It is neatly furnished with chapel, reading 
and music rooms, parlors and committee rooms. This 
union was the first to engage in special work for railway 
employes, and for several years conducted a pleasant 
reading room in the Union depot. It has also given special 
attention to the newsboys and boot-blacks, lodging them 
and teaching them in Sabbath and night schools. In 1881 
the headquarters were removed to 64 Euclid avenue. The 
present officers are: George W. Stockley, president; E. C. 
Pope, vice-president; P. S. Goodman, general secretary; 
N. K. Caskey, assistant secretary; N. P. Lyman, record- 
ing secretary; James B. Paskins, finance secretary ; Chas. 



356 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

W. Chase, treasurer. Railroad branch, T. H. Wells, secre- 
tary. Newburgbranch, J. H.Jones, secretary. 

The Home for the Aged Poor was founded by Bishop 
Rappe in 1870. It is conducted by the members of the 
society of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Every day the 
sisters solicit alms and collect old clothing and food for 
the aged inmates. Sister Noel, of St. Louis, is the present 
superior. 

The House of Maternity, located on Marion street, is 
conducted by the Sisters of St. Augustine. 

The society of the Cleveland Bethel Union was first in- 
corporated in 1867 for the purpose of carrying on benevo- 
lent and mission work in the lower part of the city, and 
of establishing a home for seamen, railroad men and other 
transient sojourners, where reasonable accommodations 
could be offered at very moderate rates; and in 1868 the 
building at the corner of Superior and Spring streets was 
purchased for $60,000 and $3,000 improvements were 
added— $20,000 being paid down and thebalance, $53,000, 
paid in installments. The relief work of the Bethel first 
included only the lower part of the city and provision for 
transient cases at the Home, but in 1873 it was made to 
embrace the whole city. At the Home, rooms have been 
prepared for the distribution of clothing and supplies, and 
for furnishing nourishmg food to the destitute poor during 
the winter. An employment office has been opened, a tem- 
porary home for women and girls, and free lodgings for men 
worthy of assistance. A large Sabbath school and sewing 
school are features of the mission department. The reve- 
nue from the Home department is used for the purpose oi 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 357 

the Union. In relief work about ten tnousand articles of 
clothing and kitchen utensils and $10,000 in money have 
been furnished to the poor during the past year. In con- 
nection with the building is a wood-yard, where oppor- 
tunity is found to test the industrial desire of the appli- 
cants. 

The Society for Organizing Charity was instituted in 
1882, with the object of investigating, relieving and re- 
ducing the pauperism of the city b}' systematic and dis- 
criminate giving, which should insure the relief of the 
worthj^and prevent fraud. This was accomplished by the 
coiicerted action of the principal benevolent societies in the 
city in a system of registration and investigation which 
revealed the unworthy. About thirty-three hundred dollars 
was judiciously used by the society in its first year. In No- 
vember, 1884, nine directors of this society and nine direc- 
tors of the Bethel united to negotiate terms of union be- 
tween the two organizations. It was agreed that thev 
should cooperate for two years, and that if the union proved 
satisfactory it should become permanent. Accordingly, in 
1886 this was effected, under the name of the "Bethel Asso- 
ciated Charities." The joint work does not change the atti- 
tude of either society, as the Bethel Associated Charities 
continues wholly unsectarian, and the Bethel Union 
remains Protestant in its proclivities. The present officers 
of the Bethel Union are: B. L. Pennington, president; 
Thomas West, secretary-; W. S. Jones, treasurer; W. E. 
Pence, superintendent of Bethel Home; Mrs. W. E. Pence, 
matron. The present officers of the Bethel Associated 
Charities are. James Barnett, president; H. R. Groff, W. 



358 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

H. Harris, T. H. Graham and Airs. \V. C. North, vice- 
presidents; Walter S. Collins, secretary; J. H. Wade, 
Jr., treasurer; H. N. Raymond, superintendent. 

The most comprehensive of the benevolent enterprises of 
the city is the Women's Christian Association. It was 
organized in 1868 in response to a call from H. T. Aiiller, 
asking that a women's society should be formed, cor- 
responding to the Young Men's Christian Association. A 
large meeting responded, and the Women's Christian As- 
sociation was formally organized, and articles of incorpora- 
tion were secured the following April. Committees for 
missionary work were immediateh^ appointed, and their 
labors commenced. The first work consisted of Sabbath 
visitations at the hospitals, the work-house and the in- 
firmar}^ making garments to be sold to the poor at a 
nominal price, and instructing women in the art of house- 
hold economy. A small boarding home for young working 
women was maintained until November, 1869, when the 
late Stillman Witt gave the building and land at 16 Walnut 
street for that purpose. So great was the need of a home for 
working girls that should come within their earnings, that 
four years later Mr. Witt purchased the adjoining lot and 
enlarged the building to its present dimensions, while the 
rooms were furnished by friends and by church societies. 

The Association founded the " Retreat " for the reclama- 
tion of fallen women, and conducted it until Leonard Case 
donated a large lot on St. Clair street, and Mr. Joseph Per- 
kins gave ten thousand dollars to start a building fund, 
which ultimately reached $31,000. In 1883 Mr. Perkins 
added a hospital and nursery department, costing $10,000, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 359 

thus completing the convenient and handsome structure 
of to-day. 

The Home for Aged Women on Kennard street was 
erected and given to the association in 1876 by Mr. Amasa 
Stone. It will accommodate thirt3'-five inmates, but is 
continualK^ besieged by applicants that it cannot receive. 

The Educational and Industrial Union, under the man- 
agement of Miss Mary Sherman, is a new branch of the 
association, designed to supplement the defective education 
of young working women, by giving specific instruction 
in industrial arts at a nominal cost. 

The Young Ladies' Branch of the Association has turned 
its attention extensively to the necessities and suffering of 
the neglected children of the poor. With the object of 
caring for the little ones of working mothers, two pleasant 
day nurseries are conducted — one, the gift of Mr. Perkins, 
at the corner of St. Clair street and Sterling avenue, the 
other at the corner of Case avenue and Orange street. 
The flower mission is also one of the beautiful charities of 
these young ladies. 

Another much needed branch of this work is the Home 
for Incurable Invalid Women and Children, now being 
erected on a handsome tract of land on Detroit street, both 
land and building being the gift of Mrs. Eliza Jennings. 
Several other smaller enterprises are conducted by this 
noble charity, w^hich include nearly all the vicissitudes that 
can befall women in this age of widening social standards, 
and all periods of life from infancy to old age. In 1874 the 
Earnest Worker was established as the organ of the asso- 



360 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

ciation and has been of great assistance in the prosecution 
of work. 

The present officers of the association are : Miss Sarah 
E. Fitch, president ; Mrs. Wilham M. Merriam, correspond- 
ing secretary; Mrs. H. M. Ingham, recording secretary; 
Miss C. M. Leonard, treasurer. President Young Ladies' 
Branch, Mrs. M. E. Rawson; corresponding secretary', 
Mrs. L. M. Davis; receiving secretary, Mrs. W. E. Gushing; 
treasurer, Mrs. D. B. Chambers. 

The Industrial School and Farm on Detroit street is one 
of the ornaments, architecturally and ethically, of thecity, 
being oneof themost important of the preventive measures 
M^hose need is now recognized by both State and society. 
Like all the other great and successful institutions, it orig- 
inated in a small way. In 1854 a few Christian people, 
moved by the ignorance and destitution of the children in 
the vicinity of Canal and Water streets, organized a Sun- 
day-school for their benefit. Food and clothing were dis- 
tributed to the attendants of the school which was known 
as the "Ragged School," but the supplies were exhausted 
at the end of -two years, and the school was discontinued. 
The condition of the children thus returned to their former 
neglect excited the compassion of Robert Waterton, who 
brought the matter to the attention of the Cit}^ Council. 
In response to his efforts the old Champlain street school- 
house, which was no longer used as a public school, was 
appropriated to the use of the waifs as an industrial 
school and home. It was opened in 1857 with an attend- 
ance of twenty-five pupils. Robert Waterton was ap- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND 361 

pointed superintendent, and to him is due the efficiency of 
the school in the nineteen years following. 

The Children's Aid Society was organized in 1857 and 
received the general management of the schooK 

A branch school was established at the corner of Bridge 
and York streets. These were public schools with an en- 
rollment of two or three hundred, in which common 
English branches and a few industrial arts, as sewing, 
knitting and brush making, were taught There was also 
the nucleus of a home department in which several small, 
homeless children found a temporary lodging until they 
could be otherwise provided for. In 1865 the Children's 
Aid Society was incorporated, and two years later it rented 
the Jennings farm, on Detroit street, to give the children 
instruction in farming. Mrs. Eliza Jennings became 
interested in the school and in 1868 donated the entire 
property on which the school was located to its use. 

This gift included ten and a half acres of land and a two 
story brick dwelling. In the following September, Leonard 
Case, Jr., donated twenty-six acres adjoining, and this with 
twenty-six acres purchased by interested friends, made an 
aggregate of more than sixty acres. In 1876 the City 
Council discontinued the Champlain Street school, as the 
establishment of a House of Refuge had taken its place. 
During the nineteen years of its existence it had instructed 
and almost supported five thousand children. The home 
department was transferred to the Detroit Street Home, 
and Rev. William Sampson and his wife were appointed 
superintendent and matron. In 1881 the present imposing 
edifice was erected and presented to the society by Mr. 



362 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Amasa Stone, at a cost of $37,000. Since 1876 two hun- 
dred or more waifs have been annually received by the Insti- 
tution, and nearly a hundred a year ha ve been placed in good 
families. Of these fully ninety-five per cent, are developing 
into good, useful citizens. Some are liberally educated by 
their foster parents, and others have become prominent 
citizens. 

The Women's Christian Temperance Union (non-parti- 
san), w^as organized on March 13, 1874, by a number of 
philanthropic ladies, who thus undertook by systematic 
organization and cooperation, to alleviate the misery en- 
tailed by intoxication, to reform the lives of those who are 
addicted to drink, and to discourage in every possible way 
the manufacture, sale and use of distilled liquors. The 
work, commenced in so noble a spirit, has broadened until 
it includes much of the misery of extreme poverty. Not 
only men are urged to reform and assisted b}' friendly in- 
terest, but the homes of the poor are visited, the mothers 
taught, encouraged and assisted ; they are gathered into 
helpful meetings and carry away the strength and comfort 
there gained. The neglected little ones are gathered into 
Sabbath school, sewing school and boys' reading room, 
where they are amused, instructed and elevated by the tire- 
less patience of the ladies in charge. 

The erring and fallen are given a helping hand, and the 
destitute and sick are relieved . The institutions owned and 
carried on by the Union— and their departments of useful- 
ness—are: three free reading rooms well furnished, two 
drinking fountains kept in order, twenty bands of hope 
-conducted each week, two sewing schools held each week^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 363 

and large classes of boys taught regularly in common 
English branches four nights each week, two Sunday 
schools regularly maintained, seventj^-five visits at work- 
house, jail and police station, including personal interest 
in the girls thus met, which has in many cases followed 
them until they were reclaimed. Twenty-six meetings held 
with the women at the work-house, five .hundred and sev- 
enty-six gospel meetings held at the two missions. Central 
Friendly Inn and Detroit Street chapel, and twelve in the 
open air at the Haymarket, fourteen mothers' m.eetings at 
Willson Avenue Reading Rooms, mission work at the Open 
Door, including much personal effort in finding places for 
the 231 inmates of that institution, during the past year. 
A vast amount of literature circulated upon temperance 
and social purity work, the Central Place Friendly Inn 
lias maintained at an expense of over twenty-two hun- 
dred dollars, and the widening circle of the ennobhng in- 
fluences there exerted would be difficult to measure. The 
Detroit Street chapel has also been a source of much good in 
its province. The coming year will probably see the comple- 
tion of a long cherished plan of thefaithful workers— a new 
Friendly Inn— for which the sum of fifty thousand dollars 
has been raised. The building will be erected upon a lot 
fronting on Broadway and Ohio streets. The plans include 
a pleasant chapel for gospel services, with additional rooms 
for Bible class, mothers' meetings, etc., an attractive read- 
ing room for men and one for boys, with facilities for in- 
struction, a coffee room, lodging and bath rooms, laundry, 
drying and ironing rooms for the convenience of destitute 
women, kitchen garden, sewing and cooking school rooms 



364 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

for girls, a dav nurserv for the little ones of working 
mothers. 

These features combine more varied means of doing 
good than are presented by any other institution of the 
kind. A specialty will be made of the instruction of young 
girls in all the arts that tend to home-making and self sup- 
port, in the conviction "that no human element more 
surely tends to strict morality in the lives of both men 
and women than respect for labor and the ability to do 
some things well." The principal donors of the new build- 
ing are: J. D. Rockefeller, $10,000; Mrs. and Mrs. Alva 
Bradley, $13,500; Ahira Cobb, $5,000; Joseph Perkins, 
$10,000. 

The officers of the Union are: Mrs. J. S. Prather, presi- 
dent , Miss Mar\' E. Ingersoll and Mrs. E. J. Phinney, 
recording secretaries ; Miss F. Jennie Duty, corresponding 
secretary; Mrs. N. W. Orton, treasurer, and H. N. Ray- 
mond, auditor. 

The Central Cleveland Women's Temperance Union w^as 
originally connected with the non-partisan Union, but in 
the summer of 1885 separate organizations were formed. 
The Union is engaged in general temperance and philan- 
thropic work, and has organized several departments of 
specific work. There are also two branch unions, one in 
the East End and one on Madison avenue. The officers 
of the.main Union are: Mrs. T. K. Doty, president; Mrs. 
I. H. Amos, vice-president; Mrs. S. M. Perkins, recording 
secretary'; Mrs. G. P. Oviatt, corresponding secretary; 
Mrs. Geo. Presh-, treasurer. 

The Dorcas Society was organized about 1866, for the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 365 

purpose of a relief societ}-. Its main object is the assist- 
ance of widows and children, furnishing clothing, paying 
rents, and caringfor the sick who fall outside the city work. 
A great deal has been done in the years of its existence. 
The most important mission of the society is the Invalids' 
Home, which is conducted under its auspices and for which 
its members solicit the rent and part of the support. The 
Home is delightfully situated at 1643 Euclid avenue, and 
is intended for incurable invalids, none others being re- 
ceived. The officers of the society are: Mrs. B. D. Bab- 
cock, president; Mrs. H. Gerould, secretary; Mrs. J. H. 
Rhodes, treasurer. The officers of the Invalids' Home are 
Mrs. M. C. Worthington, president and treasurer; Mrs. 
L. A. Castle, secretary. 

The Trinity Church Home for the Sick and Friendless is 
situated at the corner of Euclid avenue and Perry street. 
The officers are Mrs. Philo Schovill, president; Mrs. E. C. 
Pechin, secretary and treasurer; Mrs. F. H. Fairfield, 
matron. 

The Aged and Infirm IsraeHtes' Home, 0. S. K. B., is on 
Woodland avenue at the corner of Willson avenue. Jacob 
Mandelbaum, president; Jacob Cohen, secretary'; Adolph 
Freund, Detroit, treasurer; Dr. Friedman, superintendent. 
The Convent of the Good Shepherd was founded July 8, 
1829, and was established as a generalship by the Pope, 
July, 1875. The Cleveland Convent was founded by Bishop 
Rappe in July, 1869, and in 1875 the large convent build- 
ing on Sterling avenue was completed and occupied. The 
institution is intended as a reformatory for women and a 
protectory for children. 



366 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

The Cleveland Humane Society was organized in 1873 
as the ''Cleveland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty 
to Animals," the name embodying the purpose of the 
organization. It was found that another field lay so 
manifestly in its path, that to avoid it was impossible. 
The voice 

" Of the children weeping, 
The young, young children weeping, 
In the play time of the others, 
In the countr}^ of the free," 

was an appeal so piteous as to demand a response. This 
mission was also included, and the general work of the 
society is not limited to these two branches, but responds. 
to any suffering of sentient creatures. The histor\' and 
character of the society is embodied in that of its general 
agent, the late David L. Wightman, who died July 18, 
1887, to whose ability in this field the society owes its 
general usefulness. His experience, his deep knowledge 
and keen detection of human nature, in which he was 
rarely mistaken, his tact, skill, discrimination, good 
policy, together with his truly kind heart and remarkable 
industry, and all combined in a Christian gentleman, 
have made his death an irreparable loss to the society of 
which he represented the executive agency for fifteen years. 
Mr. E. C. Parmelee is his worthy successor, having ob- 
tained much experience in the Bethel work. 

The Infants' Rest, at 1416 Cedar avenue, is an out- 
growth of the needs of the society, which fills a need not 
covered either by city or private charities. Mrs. Christine 



HISTORY or CLEVELAND. 367 

Stadler is the matron. The present officers of the society 
are: President, James Barnett; secretar3^ Andrew Squire; 
corresponding secretary, Mrs. F. A. Sterling; tieasurer, 
B. L. Pennington. 

In addition to the institutions enumerated above are 
upwards of fifty benevolent societies organized for relief 
work in special lines, exclusive of the very large number 
of mutual benefit associations. The extent, number and 
excellent record of these branches of work tell their own 
story in the simple statement. Comment upon their motive 
and usefulness is not needed, for both their personal and 
social benefit can never be estimated and, viewed in the 
broader light of history, the aggregate of effects increase. 
History has told us that nations perish because of the 
widening distance between castes, the increasing wealth of 
the rich and poverty of the poor making it impossible for 
them to join hands across the separating breach for the 
preservation of their common country. 

But in this country, whose organic law is so imbued 
with the spirit of humanity as to base its constitution 
upon the political equality of all men, the growth of an- 
tagonism between capital and poverty is met by a coun- 
ter current of Christian sympathy. In these enterprises 
rich and poor meet upon an equal plane and recognize 
their common humanity, while the patient hands that are 
striving to protect the good in human character and 
eliminate the evil, are building, stone by stone, the founda- 
tion of a citadel w^hose battlements will stand firm 
under anv possible shock of insurrection, communism or 
anarchy. 



368 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



CHURCHEvS. 



The first church organization in the village of Cleveland 
was Trinity parish, established on the ninth of November, 
1816, at the residence of Phineas Shepherd. The commu- 
nicants were ver^^ few. Darius Cooper was chosen lay 
reader. There was no Episcopal clergyman, not even a 
missionary, in this part of the country. In March, 1817, 
Rev. Roger Searle, from Connecticut, visited Cleveland 
and reorganized the parish, there being thirteen families 
and eleven communicants, and repeated his visits annuall}- 
for three years. After a time the services were conducted 
bv Rev. Mr. Searle until 1825, when Rev. Silas C. Freeman 
was installed as rector, also having a church at Norwalk. 

On the twelfth of February, 1828, the parish was 
legally incorporated, and the same year Mr. Freeman 
went East and obtained a thousand dollars to assist in 
building a church. A frame structure was accordingly 
commenced in 1828 at the corner of St. Clair and Seneca 
streets, and completed the following year at a cost of three 
thousand dollars. It was the first house of worship in 
the city, and was consecrated on the twelfth of August, 
1829. In 1852 the church lot, costing originally two 
dollars and a half per foot, was sold for two hundred and 
fifty dollars per foot. The building was destroyed by 
fire, however, before the sale was consummated. 

In 1853 the present stone church was commenced on 
Superior street near Bond, being consecrated on Ascension 
Day, 1855. In 1872 it was thoroughly refitted and ele- 
gantly decorated. The church is in a flourishing condi- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 369 

lion with a large number of communicants. The present 
rector is Rev. Y. P. Morgan : Rev. James A. Bolles, rector 
emeritus. 

St. John's church, on the West Side, was organized in 
1834. In 1836, under Rev. Seth Davis, rector, the com- 
modious stone church, at the corner of Church and Wall 
streets, was erected, at a cost of $17,000. On April 3, 
1866, the church was partly destroyed by fire, necessitat- 
ing a cost of $25,000 in rebuilding. In 1875 a chapel was 
built at a cost of $7,000. The present rector is Rev. H. D. 
Aves. 

The parish of Grace church w^as organized Jul}^ 9, 1845, 
bv former members of Trinity church. A substantial 
brick building was erected at the corner of Erie and 
Huron streets, costing about ten thousand dollars. Sub- 
sequentlv a chapel and chancel were added to the church 
at a cost of about fifteen thousand dollars. The mone^'^to 
build Grace church was subscribed on condition that the 
seats should be forever free. 

St. Paul's church was organized October 26, 1846. In 
March, 1848, a lot of ground was purchased at the corner 
of Sheriff street and Euclid avenue, and a frame church 
was erected on it. It was burned in August, 1849. A 
brick church was built on the same lot at a cost of about 
seventeen thousand dollars. In 1874 the church ])roperty 
was sold for $115,000 and the new building, on the corner 
of Euclid and Case avenues, commenced in 1875, and com- 
pleted for worship in December, 1876, at a cost of nearlv 
one hundred and twentv-five thousand dollars. Rev. C. 



370 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

S. Bates, D. D., is the present rector, and Rev. J. B. Shep- 
herd, assistant minister. 

St. James' church is situated at the corner of Superior 
and Alabama streets, and was estabHshed mainh' by the 
efforts of the Rev. R. Bury. The present rector is Rev. 
James A. Mathews. 

Christ church (German) was organized in 1868. With 
the hel]:) of other churches, and by personal contribu- 
tion, the building at the corner of Orange and Belmont 
streets was completed in 1871, at a cost of $12,000. The 
present rector is Rev. J. W. C. Duerr. 

Grace church, in the Eighteenth ward, was organized in 
1869. The society' purchased a Presbyterian church build- 
ing and moved it to the corner of Harvard and Sawyer 
streets. Rev. J. B. Shepherd is the present rector. 

St. Mary's church was organized in May, 1868, and the 
corner-stone of their church building was laid by Bishop 
Bedell on September 29, 1869, and the building was opened 
for services on March 20, 1870. It stands on Woodland 
avenue, at the corner of Wallingford court. Rev. Ralph 
E. Macduff is the rector. 

All Saints' church is situated on Scranton avenue. In 
1868 the North Brooklyn Union Sunday-school became 
Episcopal, and the first subscription was taken for a church 
fund. In 1870 the corner-stone of the former building 
was laid. The new building was erected in 1885. Rev. 
John W. Kebble, rector. 

St. Mark's church was organized in 1878, and the build- 
ing completed and opened July 3, 1878. It is on Franklin 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 371 

avenue at the corner of Liberty street. Rev. E. W. Col- 
loque, rector. 

Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd, at the corner of 
East Madison avenue and Varian street, is a memorial of 
the life and labors of Rev. Alexander Varian. Rev. 
Thomas L\de is rector. 

Emmanuel church was organized as a parish in 1876. 
It is situated on Euclid avenue. Rev. B. T. Noakes is 
the rector. 

St. Peter's chapel was established in 1884. It is at the 
corner of Chapel street and Scovill avenue. Herbert C. 
Foote is superintendent. 

Calvary Mission Sunda\^-school, on West Madison 
avenue, is superintended by Chas. E. Ferrell. 

The second church in Cleveland was Methodist, a society 
being formed in New^burg as early as 1818, but it was 
not successful in living. In 1832 Rev. Mr. Goddard re- 
sumed the good work. He did so, forming a class of six 
persons. The first church building, a neat frame, was 
erected in 1841 at a cost of three thousand dollars. From 
1832 to 1860 Newburg w^as part of a circuit, but then it 
became a station. The South Park church was com- 
menced in 1872 and completed some years later. The 
present pastor is Rev. James H. HoUingshead. 

The first Methodist preaching in the city proper was in 
1822, Rev. Ira Eddy being the pastor. In 1830 the first 
station was established at Cleveland, and in 1834 it be- 
came a permanent charge, but was without a church build- 
ing until 1841, when the church on the corner of St. Clair 
[and Wood streets was completed. In this church the con- 



372 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

gregation worshiped until the chapel w'-as built at the 
corner of Erie and Euclid, in 1869. In 1874 the present 
handsome church was completed at a cost of one hundred 
and forty thousand dollars. This church has contributed 
extensively to the building of other Methodist churches 
over the city, and has been the mother of Methodism in all 
respects. Rev. Russell B. Pope is the present pastor. 

The Euclid Avenue church was established as the East 
Cleveland church in 1827, and was part of a circuit until 
1860. The first building was erected in 1836, the second 
on Doan street in 1870, and the present one on Euclid ave- 
nue in 1886. Rev. Dillon Prosser is the pastor. The Frank- 
lin Street church, at the corner of Duane street, was organ- 
ized about 1830. The pastor is Rev. W. A. Robinson, D. D. 

The first German church was organized in 1845. In 1848 
a building was erected on Prospect, between Ontario and 
Erie. In 1860 the society leased No. 303 Erie street and 
built a new church, which was used until 1878, when an 
exchange was made for the Baptist church property on the 
corner of Scovill and Sterling avenues. Rev. Herman 
Herzer is the pastor. 

Christ church was organized in 1850 through the labors 
of Rev. Dillon Prosser. In 1851 the society moved from its 
chapel into the building subsequently used as the Homoeo- 
pathic hospital, remaining until 1876. Westminster Pres 
byterian church, corner Huntington and Prospect, was 
purchased and used, havingbeen remodeled and beautified, 
until 1882, when the present building was erected at the 
corner of Prospect street and Willson avenue, and the 
union of Willson Avenue chapel and Christ church was 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 375 

effected under the name of the Central church. Rev. D. H. 
Muller, D. D., is the present pastor. 

The Ta^'lor Street church was organized in 1853, and a 
church subsequently erected at the corner of Bridge and 
Taylor streets, and in 1868 the present building was erected. 
Rev. P. F. Graham is the pastor. 

The West Side German chyrch was formed and its edifice 
built under the charge of Rev. C. Gahn, in 1851, as a mis- 
sion of the M. E. Society on Prospect street. In 1853 it 
became a church, and subsequently erected the building 
known as St. Paul's, at the corner of Bridge and Harbor 
streets, Rev. D. Graessle, pastor. 

The Superior Street church was organized by Rev. 
Dillon Prosser as a city mission in 1860. The building 
now used was opened for worship in 1877. The pastor 
is Rev. W. L. Day. 

The Scovill Avenue church was organized b}^ Rev. Dillon 
Prosser in 1866. In 1867 the members, about forty in 
number, purchased an old building and moved it to Scovill 
avenue. The next j^ear a lot, corner Scovill and Longwood 
avenues, w^as purchased and the building again moved. 
The present buildingwas commenced in 1871. The pastor 
is Rev. Homer P. Smith, M. A., Ph. D. 

The Lorain Street church was organized in 1868 and 
known as the "Clark Mission " until 1874. The present 
building was erected in 1870, enlarged in 1874 and in 
1878. The pastor is Rev. T. F. Hildreth. 

Broadway church was organized in 1872, their building 
having been previously erected as a chapel. Rev. R. M, 
Freshwater is the pastor. 



374 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Woodland Avenue church was organized in 1874 by Rev. 
Dillon Prosser, and the building moved to Woodland ave- 
nue and refitted. Rev. W. H. Kellogg is the present pastor. 
The Kinsman Street church was organized in 1877, and 
the building subsequently erected. Rev. O. S. Elliott is the 
pastor. 

The Wesleyan Methodist church, at the corner of Brownell 
and Ohio streets, was organized in 1839, and built on Euclid 
avenue near Sheriff street. In 1863 the lot was sold and 
the building moved to its present location. Rev. Thomas 
K. Doty is the pastor. 

St. John's A. M. E. church was organized about 1865 
and worships in a building at 496 Erie. Rev. Robert A. 
Johnson is the pastor. There are several chapels of the 
M. E. church conducted in various parts of the city. 

The Free Methodist church was organized in 1870. In 
1873 the church building, corner Bridge and Ta^dor streets, 
was purchased and used. Rev. S. F. Way is the pastor. 

The First Presbyterian church was formed on the nine- 
teenth of September, 1820, in the old log court-house on 
the Public Square. Rev. Randolph Stone was the first 
minister and the number of members was fourteen. The 
society , continued to wonship in that building until the 
brick academy was built on St. Clair street, when it occu- 
pied the upper floor. It then removed to the third floor 
of a brick building on Superior street, and there remained 
until the basement of the first stone church was completed. 
In the winter of 1835 Rev. S. C. Aiken, D. D., was called 
as the first regular pastor of the church, and his pastorate 
continued until 1861, after which he became pastor-emer- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 375 

itus. The first church building was completed and dedi- 
cated February 26. 1834. This was the "Old Stone 
church" which stood until 1853. In the spring of 1853 
the old church was replaced b\^ a new one, which soon 
burned down and was almost immediately replaced by 
the present structure. In 1884 the church was repaired 
and decorated at great expense. Rev. H. C. Haj-dn, D. D., 
was installed as associate pastor in 1872, after which he 
became sole pastor. Rev. Wilton M . Smith is now associate 
pastor. 

The first sermon preached in the village of Newburg 
was delivered in July, 1802, b\' Rev. Joseph Badger, an ex- 
revolutionary soldier. On the thirty-first of December, 
1832, a church was organized by Rev. David Feet. 

In 1 841-2 a frame church was erected upon a hill near 
where the Insane Asylum now stands, the first church in 
Newburg. It was afterward moved to the corner of 
Sawyer and Harvard streets. The present church was 
built in 1869, costing $15,000. Rev. Arthur C. Ludlow is 
the pastor. 

The First United Fresbyterian church, for long the onlj' 
one in the city, was organized in 1843. Two j^ears later 
a church was built costing $1,800, corner of Michio-anand 
Seneca streets. In 1853 the present brick church on Erie 
street near Frospect was built at a cost of $13,000. 

The Second United Presbyterian church meets at 2618 
Broadway. Rev. A. H. Elder, pastor. 

The Second Presbyterian church was organized June 12, 
1844. The building first occupied stood almost upon the 
site of the present jail. It was used until a larger building 



376 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Upon Superior street was erected. This was destroyed by 
fire October 9, 1876. A lot was purchased b\' the society 
at the corner of Prospect street and SterHng avenue, and 
a large and imposing church was erected upon it and dedi- 
cated October 27, 1878. Rev. Charles S. Pomeroy, the 
present pastor, was installed June 22, 1873. 

The Euclid Avenue Presbyterian church was organized 
on January 25, 1853. The present building was con- 
structed in 1851—2 and dedicated for worship in August, 
1852. Rev. Samuel P. Sprecher is the present pastor. 

North Presbyterian church was originally a mission of 
the First Presbyterian church. In 1866 the sum of $8000 
was subscribed for the erection of a chapel. The building 
was completed at acost of $10,000 the following year, and 
was subsequently enlarged. Rev. William Gaston is the 
present pastor. 

The Welsh Presbyterian church on St. Clair street was 
organized in 1866 by Rev. John Moses. 

The Welsh (Calvinistic Methodist) was organized in 
1858, and has a building at the corner of Cannon and 
Elmo streets. Rev. William Harrison, pastor. 

The Case Avenue church was organized in 1870, and a 
chapel erected soon after. 

The Woodland Avenue church was organized in April, 
1872 ; the present building was constructed in 1879. Rev. 
Paul A. Sutphen is the pastor. 

Beckwith church building on Fairmount street, erected 
in 1884, was organized as a mission in 1883, and after- 
wards became a separate organization. Rev. M. M. Cur- 
tis, pastor. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 377 

Willson Avenue church, Willson and Lexington avenues, 
was erected two or three years ago. Rev. Carlos T. 
Chester, pastor. 

The First Baptistchurchof Cleveland was organized Feb- 
ruary 16, 1833, under Rev. Richmond Taggart. The society 
worshiped in the old red court-house until the completion 
of their own church on the corner of Seneca and Cham- 
plain streets, in 1836. The building cost thirty thousand 
dollars, and was the finest in the city. In 1855 the society 
purchased of the Plymouth Congregational church, their 
new brick building at the corner of Euclid and Erie streets. 
The building was afterwards much improved. In 1886 the 
congregation moved out to Idaka Chapel, at the corner of 
Prospect and Kennard streets, during the building of their 
new church which promises to be one of the finest in the 
city. Rev. E. A. Woods is the pastor. 

The Second Baptist church was organized in 1851. On 
April 30, 1867, after selling their formxCr building and land, 
the church at the corner of Euclid avenue and Huntington 
street was decided upon, and was completed March 5, 
1871. Rev. George Thomas Dowling is the pastor. 

The Third Baptist church was organized in December, 
1852. The present church was erected in 1855-6 at the 
corner of Clinton and State streets. 

The Superior Street Baptist church was originally the 
Cottage Baptist Mission, organized in 1852. The building, 
corner Superior and Minnesota streets, w^as erected in 
1870. Rev. George L. Hart, pastor. 

Logan Avenue church was built in 1885 at the corner of 
Logan and Euclid avenues. Rev. G. O. King is the pastor. 



378 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Shiloh (colored ) Baptist church was organized in 1865 
and subsequently burned. The present edifice is at 409 
Sterling avenue. Rev. J. P. Brown, pastor. 

The First German Baptist church was organized in 1866 
and two thousand dollars was raised towards building 
their edifice at the corner of Forest street and Scovill 
avenue. Rev. Jacob H. Merkel, pastor. 

Willson Avenue church was organized as a mission in 
1858. In 1878 the building at the corner of Willson 
avenue and Quincy street was erected. Rev. George G. 
Craft is the pastor. 

The Welsh Baptist church was organized in 1868. The 
building was erected in the same year. 

The Scranton Avenue Free-will Baptist church was 
organized in 1868, and a building erected on the corner of 
Scovill avenue and Putnam street in the same year. In 
1875 the building at the corner of Scranton and Clark 
avenues was erected. Rev. O. D. Patch is pastor. 

Trinity Baptist church was organized in 1872, and their 
building erected in 1876 on Fullerton street. Rev. H. 
Brotherton is the pastor. 

Erin Avenue church is at the corner of Dare. Rev. A. 
Schwendener, pastor. 

The Bridge Street church is at the corner of Hitchcock. 
Rev. Benjamin H. Thomas, pastor. 

The Second German church is on Case avenue, near Kelly. 
Rev. A. J. Ranaker, pastor. 

The first Disciple church in Cleveland was organized in 
Newburg, April 21, 1842, by Elder Jonas Hartzler, with 
thirty-five members, and a building was erected soon after 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 379 

on the present site on Miles avenue, near Broadwa3^ Rev. 
Frank A. Wight is the pastor. 

Franklin Street church was organized February 20, 1842, 
in a small building on the West Side. Rev. LathropCooley 
was selected as the first minister, and in 1847-1848 a build- 
ing was erected on Franklin avenue, at the Circle, and used 
for twenty-eight years. In 1874 a new lot was secured on 
the south side of the Circle, and the foundation of the present 
building was laid. It is of pressed brick with brown sand- 
stone trimmings, and is one of the handsome churches of 
the city. Rev. S. L. Darsie is the present pastor. 

The Euclid Avenue church was organized September, 1843 . 
In 1847 a frame building was erected at the corner of Doan 
and Euclid, and in 1867 it was moved to its present loca- 
tion at the corner of Euclid and Streator, and used for a 
chapel while a new church was built on the front of the 
lot. Rev. Jabez Hall has been pastor of the church since 
1872. 

The Cedar Avenue church is near Forest street. Rev. H. 
R. Cooley, pastor. 

The first Catholic church of Cleveland was organized hy 
Rev. John Dillon, who was the first resident priest at a time 
when there were but five resident Catholic families in the 
city. Rev. Dillon collected eleven hundred dollars in New 
York for the purpose of erecting a church, but died before 
it was commenced. He was succeeded by Father O'Dw^^er, 
who carried on the building which was completed in 1838 
and known as "St. Mary'son the flats." The entire prop- 
erty cost about three thousand dollars. It was subse- 
quently used by Bishop Rappe a« his cathedral, with Very 



380 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Rev. Louis DeGoesbriand, pastorof the church, until 1852; 
then by the German congregation known as St. Mary's 
of the Assumption until 1863; afterward by a congrega- 
tion of French Catholics, St. Malachi's congregation, a 
Bohemian congregation, and last a Polish congregation. 

The most venerable Roman Cg.tholic church in Cleveland 
is St. John's cathedral, at the corner of Erie and Superior 
streets. The lots upon which the cathedral and the bishop's 
palace now stand were purchased in 1845, and were cov- 
ered with woods. In the year 1848 the corner-stone of 
the cathedral was laid by Bishop Rappe, who continued in 
the diocese until 1870. Bishop Gilmour was appointed in 
1872, and Rev. T. P. Thorpe was appointed pastor in 1875. 
In 1878 Father Thorpe, assisted by the people of the parish, 
commenced the work of renovating the interior and build- 
ing the spire. As it now stands the church is handsome 
and imposing. 

St. Peter's (German) parish was organized February 17, 
1853. A lot was purchased at the corner of Dodge and Su- 
perior streets, and a building erected in 1854. The corner- 
stone of the present church was laid in 1857, and the build- 
ing completed and dedicated October 23, 1859. Rev. F. 
Westerholt is the present pastor. 

St. Mary's of the Assumption was established in 1857 
at the "flats" church. The building at the corner of 
Carroll and Jersey streets was erected in 1863-4-5. Rev. 
John B. Neustick, pastor, Revs. W. Becker and W. Boeh- 
mer, assistants. 

St. Patrick's congregation was organized in 1854. 
The first church edifice was built in 1855, at the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 381 

corner of Bridge and Fulton streets. In July, 1871, the 
corner-stone of a new edifice was laid, which was com- 
pleted some years later. Rev. T. M. Mahony, pastor, 
Rev. John Sheridan, assistant. 

The Immaculate Conception parish was organized as a 
mission of St. John's in 1856. A temporary building was 
moved to the corner of Superior and Lyman streets. In 
August, 1873, the corner-stone of the present massive stone 
church w-as laid, and the building completed some years 
later. Rev. A. R. Sidley is the pastor. 

St. Bridget's church on Perry street, near Woodland ave- 
nue, was organized in 1857 by Bishop Rappe, and erected 
a small brick building the same year, and twenty years 
later, in 1877, the present building was erected. Rev. 
William McMahon is the pastor. 

The Church of the Holy Name was organized in 1860 by 
Rev. E. M. Callaghan; in 1863 built the fine stone church 
which now stands. Rev. John T. Carroll, pastor. Rev. 
James P. M3ler, assistant. 

St. Augustine's church w^as organized in 1860, and soon 
afterward erected an edifice at the corner of Jefferson and 
Tremont streets. In 1877 the building was enlarged and 
greatly improved. Rev. Michael Murph}^ is the pastor. 

St. Joseph's church was first built in 1862, for the use 
of the German and Bohemian Catholics. The corner-stone 
of the present building was laid in 1871, and the church 
dedicated in 1873. It stands on Woodland avenue, near 
Chapel street. Rev. Alardus Andrescheck is the pastor, 
Rev. Romualdus Rheindorff, assistant. 
St. Wencesla's church was organized as a separate par- 



382 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

ish in 1867, erected a brick church on the corner of Arch 
and Burvvell streets. Rev. Anthony- Hynek, pastor. 

St. Stephen's church was founded b}' Rev. H. Falk in 
1869, and a building was erected in 1873-6 on Courtland 
street. Rev. C. Reichlin is the pastor 

St. Columbkill'schurch wiis organized by Father O'Reilly 
in 1870, and in the same year a brick structure was built 
at the corner of Superior and Alabama streets. The 
church is attended from the cathedral. 

St. Malachi's was organized in 1865, and in 1868 built 
a brick church on Washington street, near Pearl. Rev. 
James P. Molony, the founder of the church, is still its 
pastor. 

Chiu'ch of the Holy Trinity was founded in 1870, and a 
brick building constructed, which was used as a house of 
worship, school and parsonage for about ten years, when 
the present structure on Woodland avenue, near Giddings 
avenue, was built. Rev. Peter Becker is the pastor. 

The French Church of the Annunciation was established 
in 1870, and a house of worship built soon after. Rev. A. 
Gerardin has been pastor since 1878. 

St. Prokop's Bohemian church was established in 1872, 
and their house of worship was completed in 1874, on 
Burton street. Rev. Anthony Vlcek is the pastor. 

Our Lady of Lourdes' church (Bohemian) is situated at 
the corner of Randolph and Hamm streets. Rev. S. 
Furdek, pastor. 

St. Albert's church is a Bohemian mission on Lincoln 
avenue. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 383 

St. Anthony of Padua is an Italian church on Ohio 
street, near Brownell. Rev. P. Capitani, pastor. 

St. Edward's church is situated at the corner of Wood- 
land avenue and Geneva street. Rev. M. A. Scanlon, 
pastor. 

St. Colman's church is on Gordon avenue. Rev. E. M. 
O'Callaghan, pastor. 

St. Michael's church is at the corner of Scranton and 
Clark avenues. Rev. Joseph M. Koudelka, pastor. 

St. Stanislas' Polish church is on Forman street, near 
Tod. Rev. Kolaszewski, pastor. 

St. Mary's Theological Seminary is on Lake street, near 
Dodge. The following convents also are maintained by 
the church: Convent of the Good Shepherd, Convent of 
the Little Sisters of the Poor, Convent of the Poor Sisters 
of St. Clare, Convent of the Sisters of St. Mary, Convent 
of the Sisters of Notre Dame, Convent of the Sisters of St. 
Joseph, Franciscan Monastery and the Ursuline Convent. 

The First Congregational church was organized Decem- 
ber 21, 1834, in pursuance of a resolution adopted at a 
previous meeting. A temporary house of worship was 
erected, and dedicated May 3, 1835, and the same day 
Rev. John Keep commenced his labors as pastor. In 1856 
the society built the church at the corner of Detroit and 
State streets, and, in 1882, the edifice on Franklin avenue, 
at the corner of Taylor street. Rev. Henry M. Tenney is 
the pastor. 

The Euclid Avenue Congregational church was organ- 
ized November 30, 1843, by Rev. Drs. C. Aiken and Rev. 
S. C. Cady. In the summer of 1846 the foundation was 



384 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

laid of the little brick church on the corner of Doan and 
Euclid. On September 20, 1849, the church was dedi- 
cated. In 1852 the church withdrew from the Presbytery, 
and a few years later it united with the Congregational 
Conference of Ohio. In 1865, the church building growing 
too small, the congregation decided to build again upon a 
lot donated by Dr. W. S. Streator, and a large structure 
was erected, and dedicated in 1873. This proving too small, 
it was enlarged in 1874. In 1885 the substantial brick 
edifice was torn down to make room for an elegant stone 
structure, which has not long been completed. Rev. Henry 
M. Ladd is the pastor. 

Pl^^mouth Congregational church w^as organized March 
25, 1850, with thirty members. During the summer of 
1852 the congregation moved into the church at the 
corner of Euclid and Erie, subsequently sold to the First 
Baptist congregation. In January, 1857, they purchased 
a building on Prospect street. The building was after- 
wards sold, and Plymouth chapel built and dedicated in 
1874. The stately and beautiful audience room was built 
in 1880 and '81, fronting on Prospect. Rev. George R. 
Leavitt, pastor. 

The Jennings Avenue church was organized in November, 
1859. In 1866 it moved to the house of worship on Jen- 
nings avenue, at the corner of Howardstreet, which it still 
occupies after having been enlarged and remodeled. Rev. 
J. M. Sturtevant is the pastor. 

Mt. Zion church (colored) was organized in 1864, being 
the first congregational church for colored people in the 
West. A church edifice was purchased on Maple street 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 385 

near Garden, which is still occupied. S. A. Brown, 
pastor. 

The Welsh Congregational church was organized Oc- 
tober, 1870, and meets at 144 Ontario street. Rev. J. M. 
Evans is the pastor. 

The Madison Avenue church was established as a mis- 
sion, forming a church in 1875. It is situated at the 
corner of East Madison avenue and Ouincy street. 

Franklin avenue church was organized in 1876, at the 
corner of Franklin and Waverly streets. Rev. Herbert M. 
Tenney is the pastor. 

Irving Street church is situated at the corner of Orange 
and Irving streets. Rev. F. M. Whitlock is the pastor. 

Grace church is on Gordon avenue at the corner of Col- 
gate street. Rev. J. H. Hull, pastor. 

The Centennial Welsh church is on Jones avenue, near 
Broadway. 

Several missions are : Cyril chapel, Selden avenue, Rev. 
H. A. Schauffler pastor; Bethlehem church, Broadway, 
Rev. H. A. Schauffler, pastor; Olivet chapel. Hill street, 
Rev. John Doane, pastor. 

There are thirty-four German and German-English 
churches in Cleveland bearing the general name Evangelical, 
and yet arranged under five minor differences of creed. The 
first of these was organized in 1834, and in 1837 the con- 
gregation moved into the brick church at the corner of 
Dodge and Superior, known as Schifflein Christi, of which 
Rev. J. Andres is pastor. The number of the churches will 
permit only of enumeration. They are: Evangelical 
Friedens, 116 Linden. Rev. F. Lenschau, pastor; First 



386 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

German church, Erie, corner of Ohio, Rev. E. A. Fuenfstueck, 
pastor; St. John's, McBride street. Rev. J. W. Groth, pas- 
tor; St. PauFs, Scovill avenue, Rev. H. Eppens, pastor; 
Trinity church, Case avenue. Rev. August Kimmel, pastor; 
United German church. Bridge street. Rev. WilHam Angel- 
berger, pastor; Zion's church, Jennings avenue. Rev. Th. 
Leonhardt, pastor; Evangelical Independent church, St. 
Johannes', 336 Harbor street, Rev. Carl Weiss ; Evangelical 
Reformed, First church, Penn street. Rev. J. H. C. Roentgen, 
pastor; Second church, Henry street. Rev. C. H. Schoepfle, 
pastor; Third church, 396 Aaron street. Rev. Wm. 
Friebolin, pastor; Fourth church, 44 Louis street. Rev. 
N. Wiers, pastor; Fifth church, Higgins street, Rev. W. 
Renter, pastor; Sixth church, Smith avenue. Rev. August 
Schade, pastor; Seventh church, Willcutt avenue. Rev. 
Wm. Dreher, pastor. 

Evangelical Lutheran, Holy Trinity church, Putnam 
street, Rev. A. H. Bartholomew, pastor; Immanuel 
church, Scranton avenue, Rev. H. Weseloh, pastor ; Scandi- 
navian congregation, Rev. Olaf E. Brandt, pastor; St, 
John's, Bessemer street. Rev. C. Kretzmann, pastor; St, 
Matthew's church, Meyer avenue. Rev. J. J. Walker, pastor; 
St. Paul's, Superior street, Rev. Paul Schwan, pastor; St. 
Peter's, Ouincy street, Rev. Max A. Treff, pastor ; Trinity, 
Jersey street, Rev. J. H. Niemann, pastor ; Zion, Erie street, 
Rev. Carl M. Zorn, pastor; EvangeliQal Association, Cal- 
vary church, Oakdale street, Rev. S. S. Condo, pastor; 
Emanuel, Jennings avenue, Rev. J. D. Seip, pastor; 
Friedenskirche, Herald street. Rev J. G. Theuer, pastor; 
Salem, Erie street. Rev. W. Lingelbach, pastor; Trinity, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND 387 

E. Madison avenue, Rev. S. P. Spreng, pastor; Zion, Col. 
gate street, Rev. J. A. Hensel, pastor; Zion, Aaron street, 
Rev. Leonhart Scheuermann pastor. 

There are four Dutch Reformed churches: Christian, 414 
Waverly street, Ebenhaszer, Lawn street. Rev. George 
Niemeyer, pastor; First church, Blair street, same pastor; 
and Holland Christian church, 33 Calvert street. 

There is one Friends' Society whose house of worship, 
at 179 Cedar avenue, was built in 1874. Rev. J. T. Dor- 
land is the minister. 

There are three United Brethren churches, First, Second 
and Third, located respectively on Orchard, Elton and 
Kinsman streets. 

The Church of the Unity was organized February 1, 

1867, and their handsome edifice at the corner of Pros- 
pect and Bolivar streets was erected in 1879-80. Rev. 

F, L. Hosmer is the pastor. 

The Swedenborgian church was organized March 22, 

1868, and in 1874 their building was erected on Arling- 
ton street. Rev. P. B. Cabell is the pastor. 

The' Tabernacle church which was organized in the old 
Tabernacle on Ontario street, and now meets in the Music 
Hall, has a flourishing congregation under the care of Rev. 
William Johnson, pastor. 

There are also eight Jewish congregations, of different 
nationalities, the oldest of which is the Anshe Chesed con- 
gregation, at Scovill avenue, corner of Henry street. Rev. 
M. Machol, rabbi. The Tiffereth Israel congregation, on 
Huron street, is one of three other English speaking con- 
gregations in the city. Rev. A. Hahn, rabbi. 



388 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Besides the foregoing enumeration is a large number 
of miscellaneous chapels and missions in various parts of 
the city, each doing its part toward the reformation of 
society and the uplifting of the world. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 389 



PREFACE TO BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 

THE following biographical sketches, illustrated with 
steel portraits of the subjects, are of Cleveland men 
representing every important branch of business, the city 
government, and every decade since the village of Cleveland 
was incorporated. We regret that the space at command 
would not permit of more. No attempt has been made to 
w^rite a biographical history of 'the city, but merely to 
present a sufficient number to show the kind of men who 
have built up and developed the city. Without this inter- 
esting and important feature the book would be incom- 
plete. Those who wish a work embracing the lives of all 
pioneers, self-made and prominent citizens of Cleveland, 
are referred to other works, which have been v/ritten for 
this special purpose. The omission of many men entitled 
to a place in this volume, as much as those whose sketches 
are given, is no intentional inference that the editor con- 
siders them of less worth, merit or importance. The line 
must be drawn somewhere, and unless it included several 
hundred ( which would make the work a history of indi- 
viduals instead of a histor}^ of the city), many very 
worthy names must necessarih' be left outside of it. Sonue 
of our readers may be disappointed in not seeing par- 



390 HISTORY OF CLEVEIvAND. 

ticular prominent gentlemen of their acquaintance men- 
tioned, whom they think deserving of it, and feel that an 
invidious discrimination has been made or poor judgment 
exercised ; but after looking at the matter in the proper 
light we trust that they will appreciate the circumstances 
and forbear criticism. We consider that our object, above 
explained, has been satisfactorily accomplished. The steel 
plates of several worthy subjects for representation were 
expected to be embraced, but could not be found, rendering 
publication of them impossible. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 391 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



GENERAL MOSES CLEAVELAND. 

GENERAL MOSES CLEAVELAND, the founder of the 
city that bears his name, was born at Canterbury, 
Connecticut, January 29, ITS^. He was descended, in the 
fourth generation, from Moses Cleaveland, of Woburn, 
Massachusetts, who came to this country from England 
in 1635. The subject of this sketch was a son of Colonel 
Aaron Cleaveland, a person of note and respectabilit}^ in 
his adopted State. 

The career of General Moses Cleaveland, briefly outlined, 
is as follows: In 1777 he graduated from Yale College, 
and immediately thereafter began the study of the law in 
his native town. In 1779 he was appointed captain of a 
company of sappers and miners in the United States army, 
in which capacity he continued to serve for several years. 
In 1796 he was made a general in the State militia. Both 
before and after the historic expedition to the Western 
Reserve, General Cleaveland was, during several terms, 
a distinguished member of the State Legislature. 



392 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

General Cleaveland became one of the share-holders of 
the famous Connecticut Land Compan}^ and was com- 
missioned b\' its directors "to goon said land as super- 
intendent over the agents and men sent to survey and 
make locations on said land, and to make and enter into 
friendly negotiations with the natives." He was given 
absolute control to make such drafts on the compan\'"s 
treasurv as might be necessary to accomplish the purpose 
of his commission. With a party of fifty he set out in 
June, 1796, for the "Western Reserve." At Buffalo a dele- 
gatioij of Seneca and Mohawk Indians, headed by Red 
Jacket, met General Cleaveland with the determination of 
opposing his further progress into their territory. A brief 
parley with the chieftain, resulting in the transfer of a. 
few hundred dollars worth of goods, weakened the war- 
like purpose of the red- men, and the survcAnng party 
went on their way unmolested. Following the shore of 
Lake Erie, the company, on the twenty-second of July, 
1796, entered the mouth of the Cuyahoga. Impressed with 
the natural advantages of the location, he set his men 
at work surveying the site for a mile square into city 
lots. The surveyors gave to the new-born city the name 
of Cleaveland, in honor of their chief. 

The events of the years following 1796, events which 
have secured to the name of General Cleaveland a worthy 
and enduring fame, have been detailed in the opening 
chapter of the history. The duties of director and chief 
agent of the Connecticut Land Company's pioneer expe- 
dition to the Western Reserve required, for their proper 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 393 

execution, ability, energy and tact. These qualities Gen- 
eral Cleaveland displayed in an eminent degree. 

Moses Cleaveland saw into the future as he stood on the 
banks of the Cuyahoga, but his vision did not touch the 
possibilities that lay before the young village which he 
located. 

General Cleaveland w^asa man of few words but of inflex- 
ible purpose. His life was pure, his character manlj- and 
dignified. In personal appearance he was of medium 
height, erect, thick set and portly. His black hair, his 
penetrating eye and military bearing gave him a striking 
appearance in any company. He died at Canterbury, 
November 16, 1806, in the fifty-third year of his age and 
in the midst of his honors. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

BORN in Orange, Cuyahoga county, on November 18, 
1837, amidst the poverty and hardships of Western 
pioneer life, left fatherless in infancy, Garfield's growth 
and instruction depended upon the sacrifice and prayer of 
a devoted and Christian mother. It was here that he 
learned the ruling principles of his life, the determination 
"rather to be beaten in the right than succeed in the 
wrong." His struggles to rise above his lowly position, 
the self-dependence and heroism he displayed, have been 
often duplicated amongst his sturdy cotemporaries, men 
whom the city, the Reserve and the Nation have learned 



394 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

to honor. Bravely rising from amidst discouraging sur- 
roundings, he acquired a classical education and became 
an accomplished and cultivated scholar. He enlisted in 
the agitation against slavery with that resolution and 
heroism that seemed the proper fruit of this northern soil, 
and when the war was precipitated to fortify that crime, 
he was among the first to volunteer his life for its destruc- 
tion. Without a military education, he rapidly rose in the 
ranks by his mere innate powers, and showed that pre- 
science and courage which marked him as a leader of men ; 
and yet, though great by natural powers, he left no un- 
dertaking to the chance of genius. "Occasion may be the 
bugle call that summons an army to battle, but the blast 
of a bugle can never make soldiers or win victories." 
While in the field he was elected to Congress from the 
Western Reserve, and repeatedly returned to that honor- 
able post for seventeen years, when he became the leader 
of his party. He was elected to the Senate from his native 
State in January, 1880, but before he could take his seat 
was called to the higher position, that of President of fifty- 
two milHonsof free and independent fellow-citizens. A new 
era of peace and good- will seemed dawning on the land 
when he took up the duties of this high calling— a new 
beacon of hope that would cast a shade over the bitter- 
ness of the past, but a gleam of promise on the future. In 
his policy, "statesmanship consisted rather in removing 
the causes than in punishing or evading results." But 
these bright hopes were blasted; in the very dawn of 
promise, after a noble and thoughtful life had prepared 
liim preeminently to meet his mission, he was cut down 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 395 

by the assassin. Yet with Christian bravery he accepted 
the decrees of God. " If the good of this country, the in- 
terests of free government and of the people against one- 
man power, demand the sacrifice of 1713' Hfe, I think I am 
ready." And thus he passed down the dark Valley of the 
Shadow of Death, lighting up its gloom by the purity and 
faith of his life, and leaving a name and a histor}-- to stim- 
ulate the Hves of others, the Christian scholar, soldier and 
statesman. His career throughout its varied length is the 
brightest honor to the Western Reserve and to the princi- 
ples which he here obtained ; while around Cleveland her- 
self, the scene of his triumphs and of his sublime funeral 
pageant, the guardian of his ashes, it will always cast 
the most sacred associations. The history of his life, so 
closely connected with the history of Cleveland and her 
tributary territory, fairly represents that of hundreds 
who have here distinguished themselves in every walk of 
life. 



SHERLOCK J. ANDREWS. 

FIFTY-FIVE years were embraced in the professional, 
official and judicial life of Judge Andrews in Cleve- 
land — from 1825 to 1880 — eleven years of village citizen- 
ship and forty-four under the city charter. But few have 
lived so long and been so intimately connected with the 
^owth of the city, and so identified socially and officially 



396 HIvSTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

with a commtmity that advanced from a few hundred to a 
quarter of a million inhabitants while he yet lived. 

Judge Andrews was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, 
in 1801. His father was a prominent physician and gave 
his son a preparatory course of study in the Episcopal 
Academy in C.ieshire. In 1821 he graduated with honors 
at Union College, Schenectady, New York, then studied 
law in New Haven, where he attended lectures in the law 
school in that city, and served as assistant-professor of 
chemistry in Yale College. 

In 1825 young Andrews came to Cleveland, then a small 
village, its business part being confined principally to the 
river. The Ohio canal was not yet opened. There was 
hardly a steamboat on Lake Erie, nor a railroad in the 
United States. Yet even then men prided themselves on 
the advanced state of human knowledge. 

Mr. Andrews was a partner with Judge Cowles for 
several years and until the retirement of the latter in 
1833, when the partnership of Andrews, Foot & Hoyt 
was formed, which continued more than twenty years. 
The brilliant talents, untiring industry and genial social 
qualities made Mr. Andrews a leading man in the com- 
mtmity, and in 1840 he was elected to Congress. How- 
ever, he preferred his profession to politics, and at the end 
of a single term declined a reelection. Severe professional 
labor after many years somewhat impaired his health, and 
for several years he acted as adviser and advocate in only 
the more important cases, until 1848, when he was elected 
judge of the Superior Court of Cleveland, a position which 
he filled with conspicuous ability. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 397 

In 1849 Judge Andrews was made a member of the con- 
vention to revise the State Constitution. He was one of 
its most prominent and leading members, and was assigned 
to the judiciary and other important committees. The 
revision of the judiciary system abolished the Superior 
Court, and Judge Andrews again returned to the practice 
of law. He confined his practice, however, to the most im- 
portant cases before the Federal and State Courts. He 
had become not only one of the best lawyers of the Ohio 
bar, but he was a man of such high principles and stainless 
purity of character that his opinions and advice had 
almost the weight of law. 

Again, in 1873, another Constitutional Convention 
was authorized, and Judge Andrews was chosen by 
unanimous selection of both the great political parties 
to head the delegation from this district. He was the 
strength and inspiration of the Committee on Revision 
of the Judiciary, and the report of that committee was the 
most important of the new Constitution which was sub- 
mitted to the voters of the State. With the dissolution Oi 
the convention the public life of Judge Andrews may be 
said to have closed. He had then arrived to the age of 
seventy-two years, and had done the work of a long, 
earnest and faithful life. He continued, however, in prac- 
tice, especially as a counselor and arbitrator in important 
and involved cases in equity. His ripe experience, his 
clearness and grasp of intellect, and above all his swerve- 
less integrity, had placed him at the head of his profession, 
and his opinions as an arbitrator were as conclusive as 
judicial opinions of the Supreme bench. 



3^8 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

As an advocate, a man to move and convince a jury. 
Judge Andrews had, during the period from 1835 to 1850, 
no superior at the bar of this State. His eloquence was 
electrical and irresis< 'ble. He swept the whole gamut of 
the emotions that sw?iy and control the hearts of men. Of 
a nervous and magnetic temperament, he was at times 
roused by the logic of an intricate case to an eftbrt which 
carried beforeit judge, jury and audience. The keenest wit, 
theprofoundest pathos, sarcasm, ridicule, humor and invec- 
tive were all at his command, and it is traditional among 
the oldest members of the bar that when he had theclosing 
argument he almost invariably carried the case, even 
against the previous convictions of the jury. In fact, he 
had all the elements that make up a great advocate: fine 
education and literary attainments, and a most keen per- 
ception and good judgment along with it all and crown- 
ing all. An eminent contemporary, in reviewing Judge 
Andrews' life and expressing an exalting opinion of him as 
a lawyer and a jurist, said : "If there was any one thing 
that was characteristic of him, it was that shrinking 
modesty which never allowed him to claim even that 
which was due him among his fellow-men. His profes- 
sional life has been an eminent and complete success; 
honesty, fidelity and ability have characterized him 
throughout." 

In 1828 Judge Andrews married Miss Ursula Allen, of 
Litchfield, Connecticut, daughter of John Allen, who 
represented a Connecticut district in Congress, and 
sister of the late Hon. John W. Allen, of this city. Mrs. 
Andrews and five children of a happy, wedded life, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 399 

extending over more than half a century, survive him. 
Judge Andrews died February 11, 1880, at the age of 
seventy-nine years, and the public journals pronounced a 
triumphant verdict upon a life of nearly eighty years, and 
the bar and the bench cooperated in making up the most 
beautiful and appreciative summary of the characteristics 
and labors of the grandest life that has ever been placed 
upon our judicial records. 



RUFUvS P. RANNEY. 

THE subject of this sketch was born October 30, 
1813, in Blandford, Hampden county, Massachu- 
setts. In 1824 the famil}^ removed to a wholly unsettled 
portion of Portage county, in this State, where he was 
engaged until he was about seventeen years of age, in 
assisting to clear off the heavy forests for which that sec- 
tion was distinguished. Until after that time, the oppor- 
tunities for obtaining any education were very kw, nor 
could he be w^ell spared from the active labor he was pursu- 
ing. When he did resolve to make the attempt, he was 
well aware that beyond good will and encouragements of 
his parents, he must depend wholly upon his owm unaided 
exertions. This he accomplished with less difficulty than 
might be supposed, by the use of his axe, and teaching 
tw^o terms as he progressed. He entered the Nelson Acad- 
emy, then under the charge of Dr. Bassett, an excellent 
teacher, where he acquired a very good start in the Latin 



400 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

and Greek languages, and from these went to the West- 
ern Reserve College at Hudson. He was interrupted 
there long enough to go through another term of teaching, 
and at its conclusion, instead of returning to the college 
as he had intended, he was induced by the urgency of a 
college friend to accompany him to Jefferson, Ashtabula 
county, and commence the study of the law with Joshua 
R. Giddings and Benjamin F. Wade, then partners— a step 
he had never contemplated as possible, and without 
knowing a single person in the county to which he went. 
He pursued his studies there about two and a half years, 
and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court in the 
fall of 1836. Mr. Giddings was soon after elected to Con- 
gress, and the firm of Wade & Ranney was formed, which 
continued for about eight years, and until Mr. Wade was 
elected to the Common Pleas Bench— although Mr. Ranney 
resided at Warren, Trumbull county a considerable part 
of that time; and from this county and Geauga in 1850, in 
connection with the late Judge Peter Hitchcock and Jacob 
Perkins, he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional 
Convention which framed the present constitution of the 
State. He was afterwards three times elected a judge of 
the Supreme Court of the State, and served in that tribu- 
nal in all for eight years. He removed to this city in the 
spring of 1858, and for several years practiced law with 
the late Franklin T. Backus and C. W. Noble, now of 
Detroit. In 1865 he resigned his seat on the Bench, and 
from that time to the present has practiced his profession, 
interrupted only by the execution of some gratuitous 
trusts, amongst which might be noted that of president 




^7\ 



yr^'j 



. "^^^ (^l^J^-i-i ^^tr 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 401 

of the State Board of Centennial Commissioners, and 
president of the " Case School of Applied Science " from its 
organization to the present time. 

His practice has been laborious and extensive in the 
courts of the State, extending in important cases to a 
number of neighboring States and to the Supreme Court 
of the United States. 

Mr. Ranney has merited the reputation which he has 
achieved. He is unquestionably the greatest jurist of the 
West, and one of the greatest living masters of persuasive 
eloquence. It is a common observation that the life of a 
lawyer is barren of incident. The moving forces are intel- 
lectual. They are not seen from the surface. They appear 
to the world only in the masterly argument, with its 
lucidity and logic of arrangement; and this manifesta- 
tion is soon forgotten, together with the subject which 
called it forth. It is not, however, probable that Cleve- 
land will soon forget the character and achievements of 
her most distinguished citizen. She cannot, at least, forget 
him so long as he continues in her midst with his powers 
of mind and body unabated. 



THOMAS H. LAMSON 

THE foundation of Cleveland's prosperity dates back 
to that era when her business interests were in- 
trusted to those who, like Thomas H. Lamson, the subject 
of this sketch, established a healthy public sentiment in 



402 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

favor of temperance, sterling integrity, charity and com- 
mercial fidelity. Mr. Lamson was born in Sheffield, Mas- 
sachusetts, July 16, 1827. He passed his boyhood days 
attending the village school and assisting his father on his 
small farm. At the age of twenty, his father discovered 
the boy's growing distaste for agriculture and an increas- 
ing desire to enlarge his horizon. Thomas, therefore, with 
parental encouragement, left Sheffield and journeyed to 
Southington, Connecticut, where he at once obtained work 
in his uncle's clock factory. Here he toiled so faithfully 
that, at the end of six years, he became a partner of this 
uncle. After two years the connection was dissolved by 
mutual consent, Thomas accepting a directorship in a 
joint stock company for the manufacture of carriage-bolts. 
Unfortunately, but through no fault of his, this company 
shortly failed, sweeping away his entire earnings. Not 
discouraged by this misfortune, he soon accepted the 
position of foreman in the extensive bolt shops of Honor- 
able Julius B. Savage, in Southington. FuU}^ conversant 
wnth the bolt industry, and confident that the market 
would sustain another factory, Mr. Lamson left Mr. Sav- 
age and formed a co-partnership at Mount Carmel, Con- 
necticut, with Honorable William Willcox and Mr. Walter 
N. Woodruff, which business was sold two years later to 
the Peck, Stow and Wilcox Company, of Southington. He 
soon after formed a new company at Mount Carmel with 
Mr. John Holt and Mr. Augustus Dickerman. In a few 
months Mr. Holt's interest was bought by Mr. Samuel W. 
Sessions, a friend of Mr. Lamson of long standing, and, 
soon after, Mr. Isaac Lamson, a younger brother of 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 403 

Thomas, bought Mr. Dickerman's interest, thus forming 
what has since been so favorably known as the firm of 
Lamson, Sessions & Company. In 1869 this business was 
moved to Cleveland and at once took a front rank among 
the industries of this busy city. 

In 1872 he formed with a few others a limited partner- 
ship for five years for the manufacture of nuts and wash- 
ers, under the name of the Cleveland Nut Company. The 
plant was erected and the business successfully conducted 
until the expiration of the partnership in 1877, when it 
was sold out to other parties in interest. In 1879, he, 
with others, erected the large plant now owned by the Peck, 
Stow & Wilcox Company in this city for the manufacture 
of hardware, and operated the same till 1881, when the 
business was consolidated with that of the Peck, Stow & 
Wilcox Company, of Southington, Connecticut. He was 
also one of the original stockholders who, in 1880, organ- 
ized the Union Rolling Mill Company for the manufacture 
of iron. Its operations have been successfully carried on 
to the present time. Mr. Lamson was instrumental in 
1874 in the formation of the South Side Street Railroad 
Company, and the extension of the general system of sur- 
face-railway travel in the city. 

It soon became evident that more ample accommoda- 
tions would be needed by the Lamson-Sessions Company, 
and, therefore, the foundations of a commodious factory 
were laid in 1881, and in the autumn of '82, the new build- 
ing, equipped probably as completely as any similar estab- 
lishment in the world, was finished and occupied. But, 
sad to relate, Mr. Lamson was not permitted to enter the 



404 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

works after their completion, and share with his partners 
in the jo}^ which well-earned and brilliant success brings. 

For some time Mr. Lamson had been in declining 
health, and after it became evident that his disease had 
reached a critical point, he went, in the summer of '82, 
with his devoted wife, to Lenox, Massachusetts. Btit 
even the air of his native hills and the ministrations of 
kind friends failed to afford permanent relief. He grad- 
ualW failed, and on the seventeenth of August, after two 
days of unconsciousness, peacefully expired. His body 
rests in Riverside Cemeter}^— one of Cleveland's beautiful 
Cities of the Dead, and of which he and Mr. Samuel W. 
Sessions were among the founders. 

Mr. Lamson was a man who avoided publicity even 
when publicity sought him. Broad in his views, sincere in 
his religious convictions, noble and generous in his im- 
pulses, he was a safe counselor, a tried Christian, a public 
benefactor, a faithful friend, and a blessing to his adopted 
city. 

For twelve years he was a constant attendant at the 
Heights Congregational church, where, with willing 
heart and hand, he aided both pastor and people in every 
branch of Christian work. Those who ever had the good 
fortune to cross the threshold of his beautiful home will 
never forget the genuine hospitalit}- extended to friends, 
nor the genial individuality that characterized his utter- 
ances. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 405 



SAMUEL WILLIAMSON. 

WHEN Cuyahoga county was organized in 1810, the 
subject of this sketch was two years old, and there- 
fore he was among the few very earHest residents of Cleve- 
land. He was born in Crawford countA^ Pennsylvania, on 
the sixteenth of March, 1808. He was the eldest son of 
Samuel Williamson, a native of Cumberland county, who 
removed to Crawford county about the year 1800, w^here 
he was married to Isabella McQueen, by whom he had a 
family of seven children. He came to Cleveland in 1810, 
where, with a brother, he carried on the tanning business 
until his death in 1834. He was a man of enterprise and 
public spirit, highly esteemed, and was an associate judge 
of the court of common pleas. 

Samuel Williamson graduated at Jefferson college in 
Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1829, and soon 
thereafter entered the office of Judge Andrews, with whom 
he read law, and was admitted to that bar in 1832. He 
was associated with Leonard Case as a partner until 1834, 
when he was elected county auditor. This office he held 
for eight ^^ears, when he returned to legal practice. He 
was associated with A. G. Riddle, under the firm name of 
Williamson & Riddle, for many years and until that gen- 



406 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

tleman was elected to Congress, about 1860. He retired 
from general practice in 1872, to accept a position of 
president of the Society for Savings in the city of Cleve- 
land, the largest institution of the kind west of New York, 
and continued to fill this position until his death. He was 
called to many positions of trust. Fidelity and public 
confidence went hand in hand with him throughout his 
long and honored life. He was a member of the House of 
Representatives in 1850, and was president of the board 
of equalization in 1859-60. He was elected to the State 
Senate in 1862, and served two terms. He was a member 
of the city council and, in 1850, the board of education, 
and ever took the active interest of a good citizen in pro- 
moting public improvements and educational institutions. 
He held the office of prosecuting attorney for the county 
for two years, was a director in the Cleveland, Columbus 
& Cincinnati Railroad company, president of the First 
Presbyterian society, and vice-president of the Mercantile 
Insurance company. He lived to become the oldest resi- 
dent of the city and died in 1884, lamented by his life-long 
friends and revered by the public he had served so honestly 
and so well. 



ANSEL ROBERTS. 

MR. ANSEL ROBERTS, elected county auditor in the 
fall of 1866, was a public officer of much prominence. 
During a period of ten years— from 1860 to 1870— he was. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. . 407 

continually a faithful and devoted public servant. In 1861 
he was elected a member of the board of education from 
the second ward, serving two years in that body. Before 
the expiration of his term, he was, in 1862, chosen a coun- 
cilman in the same ward, and continued to represent it 
through six successive reelections. He was the choice of 
the people for two terms as auditor of Cuyahoga county. 
He retired from that office in 1870, and thereafter declined 
all political preferment. For a time he was assistant 
United States assessor in the eighteenth Ohio district. 
President Johnson appointed him collector of internal 
revenue for this city in 1867, and the Senate confirmed him 
as such, but he promptly sent on his declension. 

Mr. Roberts was first and always a Republican. He 
took a remarkable interest in municipal affairs, giving 
them his best efforts. He was a very valuable official, and 
being a popular man of character and dignity, his advice 
was much sought and his opinion carried much weight. 

Mr Roberts was born October 17, 1807, in Mendon, 
Ontario county, New York. His parents removed to Ash- 
tabula, Ohio, in 1818, and subsequently to Lower San- 
dusky, or Fremont. He entered a commercial establishment 
in Ashtabula when quite young, remaining in the same 
until 1831, when he went to Rochester, New York, and 
carried on a mercantile business. In 1846 he removed to 
Cleveland, and engaged in the wood trade. Later he 
became interested in the Cleveland Paper company, 
of which he was many years president, and at differ- 
ent times was a director in the Society of Savings and 
the Ohio National bank. Mr. Roberts was a Christian 



40S HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

gentleman and a churchman of high standing. He was 
an Episcopalian for nearly half a century. For twenty- 
seven years and up to the time of his death, which occurred 
March 19, 1883, he was senior warden in Trinity church. 
In 1836. Mr. Roberts was married to Sarah J. Hatch, who 
died in 1863. In 1867 he married Mrs. Amanda Bartlit 
Cowan. Mrs. Roberts, his widow, an estimable lady, is 
still living. 



JAMES M. COFFINBERRY. 

THE subject of this sketch was born in Mansfield, Ohio, 
May 16, 1818. 

His father, Andrew Coffinberry, was a man of rare en- 
dowments and decisive character, and was widely known 
as a distinguished lawyer from 1813 to 1856. He trav- 
ersed the circuit, always on horseback, in the earlier days 
from Mansfield to the Lake Erie, and west to the Indiana 
line. He was esteemed for his pure and upright life, and his 
genial manners and quaint humor gave him ready access 
to the hearts of all classes. 

In 1840 he wrote the "Forest Rangers," a metrical tale 
in seven cantos, descriptive of the march of General 
Wayne's army, and its victory over the Indians in 1794. 
James M. Coffinberr}^ studied law with his father, then 
residing in Perrysburg, and was admitted to the bar in 
1841, and the same year opened an ofiice in partnership 
with his father at Mauraee City. His abilities were at 





^6 





HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 409 

once recognized and he was elected prosecuting attorney 
for Lucas county, which office he held for several years to 
the public satisfaction. In 1845 he removed to Hancock 
county, and for some ten years practiced his profession 
with eminent success, and was at the same time editor 
and proprietor of the Findlay Herald, a Whig journal. 

In 1855 Mr. Coffinberry removed to Cleveland and 
speedily acquired a good practice, devoting himself ex- 
clusively thereto, and taking high rank at the bar, and 
in 1861 was elected judge of the court of common pleas. 
He served a full term of five years, establishing a high 
judicial reputation. He was always clear, forcible and 
logical, and during his term delivered some very able opin- 
ions both verbal and written. 

Prior to his judicial term he had been a member of the 
city council, and was president of that body in 1858. 
He has been connected with many important public enter- 
prises, and was one of the originators of the great Viaduct 
and its foremost advocate as a free bridge. 

Always a modest and retiring gentleman he has never 
been a political aspirant, yet he has many times been 
utilized by his party friends on their judicial and congres- 
sional tickets. 

Judge Coffinberry was married in 1841 to Anna M. 
Gleason of Lucas county. They have a son and daughter. 
The son, Henry D., was an officer during the war in the 
Mississippi gun-boat flotilla, and is now the president of 
the " Cleveland Ship-building Company." The daughter, 
Mary E., is married to Mr. S. E. Brooks, a prominent 
young business man of the city. 



410 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND, 

DAVID A. DANGLER. 

DAVID A. DANGLER, one of the most prominent 
among those of Cleveland's citizens v^ho have been 
eminently successful both in private and in public life, is a 
native of Lebanon count3% Pennsylvania. At an early 
age he removed with his parents to Stark county, Ohio, 
where upon his father's farm, he gained that arduous 
training of personal industry which has served him so 
well in later life. At the age of fifteen young Dangler 
began business as a clerk in the general store of Isaac 
Harter, at Canton, Ohio. Here, through steady applica- 
tion and mastery of details, he outlined for himself the 
thorough business method which has marked his subse- 
quent career. 

In 1845 Mr. Dangler removed to Massillon, at that time 
one of the most thriving towns in Northern Ohio. Here 
he remained during several years. 

In 1852 Mr. Dangler, in partnership with John Tennis 
of Massillon, established a w^holesale hardware house at 
Cleveland, a venture which was successfully continued under 
the same management till 1868, when the association 
was dissolved by the withdrawal of Mr. Dangler. 

At the present time Mr. Dangler is the official head of 
numerous extensive and important enterprises. He is the 
fovmder of "The Dangler Vapor Stove Company," and 
the recognized pioneer of this new and valuable invention, 
-which has become one of the great industries of Cleveland. 
Mr. Dangler is also the founder and president of the Stand- 
.ard Carbon company, another important industry of 




/j^ Xlr^ 




u>^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 411 

our city. In the manufacture of carbons Cleveland has 
taken the lead and is now shipping her product to all parts 
of the world. 

Mr. Dangler's distinguished official career can be traced 
but briefly in this place. In 1864 he represented the Fourth 
ward in the city council. He was made chairman of the 
committee on schools, at that time a position of much im- 
portance, as the board of education did not then exercise 
the extensive functions that have since been accorded it. 
In 1865 he was elected by the Republican party a represen- 
tative in the State Legislature. 

Up to 1866 the police organization of Cleveland had been 
merely an extension of the village system of marshal super- 
vision — a system wholly inadequate to the needs of a large 
and growing city. Mr. Dangler saw the importance of 
ousting this system and of introducing in its stead the effi- 
cient metropolitan system of police control, the w^ork- 
ings of which he had carefulh' studied in various cities, east 
and west. It was with this as a primal aim that Mr. Dan- 
gler took his position in the State Legislature. A bill pro- 
viding for a competent police department was drafted by 
Mr. Dangler, and through his effiarts soon afterward went 
into operation. In 1867 he was elected as senator from 
the Cuyahoga district. During his service at Columbus he 
was at various times the chairman of important commit- 
tees, in which capacity he gained an enviable reputation as 
a skillful and efficient debater. 



4.12 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

RENvSSELAR R. HERRICK. 

THE subject of this sketch was born at Utica, New 
York, January 29, 1826. Mr. Herrick has the just 
pride of an honored ancestry, the American branch of the 
famih' tracing its origin to that sturdy Puritan, Ephraim 
Herrick, who cameto this country from Leicester, England, 
in 1629. The father of Rensselar, Sylvester P. Herrick, was 
prominent during many years among the mercantile cir- 
cles of western New York. At his death, which occurred 
at Utica, in 1828, the boy Rensselar, then but two years 
of age, was left dependent upon the care of a widowed 
mother. The years of his childhood were very brief. At 
ten years of age (in 1836) he came to Cleveland, his future 
home, and began life in the office of the Ohio City Argus. 

The career of a printer was not, however, to this young 
man's taste, and it was soon abandoned to enter, in a 
modest way, upon what was to prove the business of his 
active life. In 1843, at the age of seventeen, young Her- 
rick engaged with a prominent builder. Three years later, 
a master builder, he was prepared to enter upon an in- 
dependent business. 

During the next quarter of a century Mr. Herrick de- 
voted himself unremittingly to the labors of his profession. 
His reputation for trustworthy work and careful estimates 
met with its due reward; enabling him in 1870 to retire 
from active business and to enter upon the no less arduous 
duties of a conscientious leisure. In the years that have 
intervened, Mr. Herrick has held various positions of ad- 
ministrative responsibility. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 413 

Following is a brief outline of Mr. Herrick's public 
career: In 1855, shortly after the union of Ohio City and 
Cleveland, he became a member of the city council. For 
some years he was prominently associated with Mr. 
Charles Bradburn in the effort to extend and perfedl the 
organization of the public schools, and to secure for them 
more ample accommodations. It were needless to give in 
greater detail all the measures with which Mr. Herrick's 
name was identified during the years of his service in the 
city council. 

In 1873. Mr. Herrick was made a member of the board 
of city improvements, in w^hich body he continued to 
serve till 1877. The work of this board, at all times 
important, was especially so at the period under consider- 
ation. New territory (East Cleveland village) had re- 
cently been added to the city, and was to be assimilated to 
the general organization ; many miles of sewerage w^ere 
demanded, and plans for its construction required skilled 
and painstaking attention ; and most important, the ar- 
rangements and estimates preliminary to the great Viaduct, 
were pressing for decision. Mr. Herrick's position on the 
board was that of "citizen member"— a position without 
pecuniary compensation of any sort. Mr. Herrick may 
well regard his services on the board of improvements as 
among the most important of his official life. 

In 1879 Mr. Herrick was nominated by the Republican 
municipal convention as candidate for the mayoralty. He 
was elected by a handsome majority — a fit recognition of 
faithful service in years past. In his inaugural address 
Mr. Herrick declared for "an efficient administration," to 



414 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

be secured by unity of purpose ; by avoidance of political 
issues, and by an unvarying reference of all municipal esti- 
mates to actual sources of income. 

That this avowed policy was carried out in action is 
attested by the fact that Mayor Herrick was re-nominated 
in 1881 and triumphantly reelected. In his address this year 
the mayor expresvsed in a single sentence the poHcy of his en- 
tire career as executive officer. In referring to the policy of 
raising funds by a large issue of bonds on the city's credit^ 
he said: "It is not a course which they themselves (men 
of business) would pursue or recommend to a friend; yet 
they insist that it is a proper thing for the city to do." 
Business principles, he proceeded, which are applicable to 
an individual are equally applicable to a municipal corpora- 
tion. This was not an advocacy of penuriousness. It 
was an advocacy of true econom}'. The peculiar thing 
about it is, that the theory- was applied in practice. 



GEORGE W. GARDNER. 

MR. GEORGE W. GARDNER was born at Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts, February 7, 1834. In that year 
the family removed to Cleveland, where Mr. Gardner has 
since resided. As a boy he attended the city schools, and 
was for a time a pupil of Andrew Freeze at the old Pros- 
pect Street school. He began business as a newsboy, sell- 
ing papers along the wharves to the passengers of incom- 
ing steamers. In these associations he was not long in 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 415 

acquiring a passion for life on the water — a passion which 
his discreet father thought best to gratify. Arrangements 
were accordingly made with the owners of the propeller 
Ogontz to take young Gardner as second clerk. Although 
at that time but fourteen years of age, such was the 
ability of the young officer that he was soon promoted to 
the position of chief clerk. In this capacity he remained 
on the lakes till the fall of 1852, when he accepted a clerk- 
ship with Wick, Otis & Brovvnell, bankers of Cleveland. 
Since 1857 the name of Mr. Gardner has been familiar to 
the business community of the west, in connection with 
the extensive enterprises which he has conducted, among 
which are the extensive elevator of Gardner & Clark and 
the large milling business of Clark, Gardner & Company. 
Before his election to the responsible position of mayor 
of Cleveland Mr. Gardner served several terms in the city 
council, and during this time was chairman of various 
important committees. His election to the mayoralty 
v^'as in May, 1885, the eve of an important crisis in the 
industrial history of Cleveland. In the summer of that 
year occurred the great strike at Newburg. The Cleveland 
Rolling Mill Company had given notice of an intended re- 
duction in wages of ten per cent. The strikers, among 
whom the Polanders predominated, assembled frequently 
at the "Peach Orchard" and other places, where griev- 
ances and the means for redressing them were discussed 
In- the leaders. Mr. Gardner was desired by the men to 
arbitrate the difficulty. This he endeavored to do, but his 
efforts proved unavailing in consequence of the refusal of the 
Rolling Mill Company to treat with the strikers. In the hos- 



416 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

tilities which ensued, particularly after the attack on the of- 
fice of the Union Steel Screw Company, Mr. Gardner ex- 
erted himself with energy and success to quell disturbance. 
On the last mentioned occasion he told the strikers in de- 
cided terms that at the next exhibition of mob violence on 
the streets the artillery would be brought out and opened 
upon them. Another of Mr. Gardner's executive acts 
which was strongly indorsed by the people and the press 
all over the country, was his refusal at various times to 
allow anarchists to hold meetings within the city limits, 
thus breaking up that diabolical element, which, for a time, 
threatened to concentrate in Cleveland. 

During Mr. Gardner's term as mayor the great high 
level bridge was voted, the fire-boat was built, and other 
reforms were made. 



JOHN H. FARLEY. 

JOHN H. FARLEY was born at Cleveland, February 5, 
1846. He was educated in the public and private 
schools of the city and received a special training for busi- 
ness life at a local mercantile college. 

His official career in this citj^ has comprised several 
terms of able service in the city council, and one term as 
mayor, to which position he was elected in 1883. During 
his incumbency of this office the executive functions were 
performed with rare energy, and the entire administration 
displayed the most thorough integrity of purpose. It 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 417 

should especially be noted that the police organization of 
the city was at this time made amenable to a responsible 
head, in contrast with the previous system of divided con- 
trol. Under this administration, also, the Broadway ex- 
tension high bridge was constructed, a work which has 
proved itself a factor of great importance in subsequent 
industrial development. 

In July, 1885, Mr. Farley was appointed collector of in- 
ternal revenue for the eighteenth Ohio district, a position 
which he now occupies. In the discharge of the important 
duties of his present office, as also in those which he has 
formerly occupied, Mr. Farley has gained the esteem of all 
classes, and — what is of greater significance — the entire 
confidence of the business community. 



WILLIAM G. ROSE. 

WILLIAM G. ROSE was born September 23, 1829, 
in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He was one of 
eleven children of James and Martha Rose. His family 
was of that celebrated Scotch-Irish stock which has num- 
bered some of the ablest of American statesmen and pa- 
triots. 

Mr. Rose passed his boyhood in the ordinar\^ routine of 
labor on the farm and attendance at the district school. At 
the age of seventeen his attainments were such as to qual- 
ify him for the duties of a district school teacher, which 



418 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

occupation, varied with an occasional term at a high 
school or an academy, he pursued during several years. 

At the age of twenty-three Mr. Rose was lentered a stu- 
dent at the law office of Honorable William Stewart, of Mer- 
cer. Here he remained till 1855, in which year he was ad- 
mitted to the bar and began practice in his native county. 
The career of Mr. Rose during the next few years is similar 
in i ts main outlines to that of many of our ablest public men. 
Those were davs of passionate discussion of the question 
of slavery extension. Should the territories be free-soil 
or slave-soil ? Very few young men— least of all young 
attorneys — of abounding life and energy could long remain, 
neutral with such an issue before them. At this period, 
accordingly, we find Mr. Rose an associate editor on the 
stafi'of the Independent Democrat, the leading newspaper 
of Mercer county. 

From 1857 to 1859 Mr. Rose was a member of the Penn- 
sylvania Legislature, representing in that body the ad- 
vanced policy of the recently organized Republican party. 
In 1860 he was chosen a delegate to the National Repub- 
lican convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the 
Presidency, but was prevented by serious illness from at- 
tending. 

In 1865 Mr. Rose removed to Cleveland, where he has 
since resided. His career in this city, in official and in pri- 
vate life, is too familiar among all classes to make necessary 
a statement in detail. We will mention a few only of the 
more important events and lines of policy with which his 
name has been connected. 

In 1877 Mr. Rose received the Republican nomination 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 419 

for the mayoralty, and was elected by a large majority 
over the opposing candidate. His administration fell in 
perhaps the most critical period of Cleveland's history. 
Following close upon the financial panic of 1873, the first 
year of Mr. Rose's administration saw the culmination of 
the great railway strikes in the memorable riots at Pitts- 
burgh. The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railway, 
along which line the force of revolt was most apparent, 
had its official headquarters in this city; and the great 
freight ^^ards of the company, the chief point of threatened 
danger, were but a few miles distant. The course adopted 
in this emergency reflects great credit upon the good sense 
and discretion of the official management. At the first sug- 
gestion of danger. Mayor Rose took measures for a thor- 
ough but secret organization of the police and militia — 
the result being that a force was soon provided competent 
for any contingency that might arise. 

In his inaugural address before the city council, Mr. Rose 
sounded the key-note of his entire administration. He said: 
"The enormous amount of municipal debt, the present low 
rate of wages . . ., the vast number of men and 
women out of employment . . ., and the difficulty ex- 
perienced by many of our most substantial citizens in 
meeting their tax obligations and providing . . . the 
comforts and even the necessaries of life, all combine to 
impress upon those in authorit}' the necessity of scrupu- 
lous care and fidelit}- in the economical management of 
every department of our municipal government." Re- 
trenchment, where retrenchment was possible, careful at- 
tention to every municipal function, and the thorough 



420 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

cooperation of all departments— these were the consistent 
aims of Mayor Rose's administration. As a worthy and 
influential citizen, Mr. Rose needs no recognition in this 
place. During his residence in Cleveland he has gained the 
respect and confidence of all classes by the faithful per- 
formance of the many duties, both public and private, that 
have devolved upon him. 



STEPHEN BUHRER. 

EX-MAYOR STEPHEN BUHRER of Cleveland is of 
German descent, and a native of Tuscarawas 
cotmty, Ohio, where he was born, in the township of 
Lawrence, on the twenty-sixth of December, 1825. At 
the age of four years his father died, leaving him and a 
sister six years older dependent for support upon a widowed 
mother. 

Mr. Buhrer left school when only ten years old to take 
his first lessons in life's work. His education, therefore, 
is, principally, the toilsome acquisition of first-hand con- 
tact with the world. 

He came to Cleveland in 184-4 and commenced business 
here as a cooper. Mr. Buhrer is now the proprietor and 
manager of an extensive distilling and refining establish- 
ment, with headquarters on Merwin street. 

His public services have been many and varied. Having 
a lively interest in all that tended to build up and advance 
the welfare of the city, he has been frequently called upon 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 421 

to serve the people in important official positions. He 
was first elected a member of the city council in 1855, and 
subsequently served in that body from 1862 to 1866 in- 
clusive of the spring of '65, there being no competitor. In 
1867 he was chosen mayor of the city, as the candidate of 
the Democratic party, having by personal popularity 
overcome a large Republican majority. He was re- 
elected to this office in 1869, this time by a largely 
increased majority — reaching nearly three thousand, a 
number which, it should be remembered, represented a far 
larger ratio to the whole vote than it would with out 
present increased population. 

Without prejudice to others, it must be conceded that 
Mr. Buhrer's administration of public trusts has been 
especially marked by scrupulous fidelity to the interests 
of all. As chief executive officer, he conducted the 
department of the municipal government with a degree 
of care and firmness seldom equaled in the city's his- 
tory. Lawless rings and combinations were not merely 
discouraged, but, so far as possible, suppressed. The man- 
agement of police, for which he was compelled to assume 
the entire responsibility, was of the most thorough and 
painstaking sort, thus securing a service of the greatest 
possible efficiency. The municipal machinery was, in gen- 
eral, so managed as to secure the proper performance of 
all its functions. 

Mr. Buhrer was always a zealous friend of all reform- 
atory institutions, believing that the best way to prevent 
crime was to care for, correct and educate petty offenders, 
incorrigible children and youth. To him more than to 



422 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

almost any other citizen is Cleveland indebted for its 
efficient Work-house and House of Refuge and Correction. 
While in the council, he was untiring in his efforts to 
secure authority to undertake the enterprise, and when he 
became ma^'or, the whole influence of his official position 
was constantly used for the consummation of the work. 
Before he completed his second term he had the satisfaction 
of seeing suitable buildings erected, an excellent board of 
managers organized and the institution on its way to sure 
success. He has been for several years one of the most 
valuable members of the board of management of this in- 
valuable institution. 

Every important permanent public improvement received 
Mr. Buhrer's sanction and active support. He was among 
the very first projectors of the stone Viaduct, and without 
his valuable advice and effective work the city might still 
be separated by that gulf which is now so happily spanned 
by a splendid highway. 

For several years past Mr. Buhrer has devoted the 
greater part of his energies to the management of his ex- 
tensive private interests. He is a prominent member of 
several important societies and organizations, among 
these the order of Free Masons. 

In April, 1847, Mr. Buhrer was married to Miss Eva 
Mary Schneider. Of this union there are three children — one 
son and two daughters. 



I 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 423 

ELROY M. AVERY, PH. D. 

N the foremost ranks of scientific authors of this coun- 
try, stands Elroy M. Avery, probably the most suc- 
cessful litterateur of Cleveland. His "Physical Science 
Series," consisting now of eight volumes, has made his 
name known in countless schools and homes from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific and from Ontario to Mexico. 

Of his achievements in his chosen field, no adequate ac- 
count can be given in this brief sketch. Fuller mention 
thereof is made in another department of this book. 

The subject of this sketch is a self-made man in all that 
such a term implies. His early life was wanting in all 
that is derived from wealth, and his every upward step 
has been made by his own unaided efforts. Elroy M. 
Avery was born at Erie, Monroe county, Michigan, July 
14, 1844. His father, Caspar H. Avery, was of Puritan 
ancestry, his progenitor, Christopher Aver}^ having come 
to America in 1630, crossing the Atlantic in company with 
Governor John Winthrop, of Connecticut. His mother, 
whose maiden name was Dorothy Putnam, was born in 
Central New York. She was a lineal descendant of General 
Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame. Elroy attended 
the public schools of Monroe, at the same time contribut- 
ing to his own support by posting bills, distributing 
newspapers and "dodgers" and assisting in the local 
printing offices. At the age of sixteen, he began his peda- 
gogic career by teaching a v^inter school at Frenchtown, 
Monroe county, and "boarding around." While teaching 
in this place, the civil war broke out and he dropped the 



424 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

ferule to take up a musket. He served in the Fourth Mich- 
igan Infantry and the Eleventh Michigan Cavalry, and, 
when his services were no longer needed, was mustered out 
as sergeant-major. While at the front, young Avery could 
not suppress his impulses to write concerning the stirring 
scenes around him. His correspondence, published in the 
Detroit Tribune, evinced much literary power and was 
widely quoted. 

At the close of the war, Mr. Avery devoted two years to 
accumulating funds and "brushing up" his scholarship, 
two necessary steps preliminary to admission at Michi- 
gan University, where he matriculated in September, 1867. 
During his course at the university, he was the Ann Arbor 
correspondent of the Detroit Tribune, and city editor of 
the Ann Arbor Courier. 

The "bread and butter question" made imperative de- 
mands for time and effort, in spite of which he took high rank 
in recitation room and society hall. In the fall of 1869, he 
became principal of the high school of Battle Creek, Mich- 
igan. Early in 1870 he was enabled by a friendly loan to 
resign this profitable, successful and enjoyable work to 
regain his footing in his college class. He was graduated 
in 1871, having had not a "condition" during his whole 
course. During his senior year he was also a mem- 
ber of the editorial staff of the Detroit Daily Tribune, 
the leading Republican paper of the state. He carried 
this double load, perhaps not easily but successfully. In 
September, 1871, soon after his graduation, he left the 
Tribune sanctum to become superintendent of the public 
schools of East Cleveland. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 425 

On the annexation of that village, he became a part of 
our city and principal of the East High School. When the 
East and Central High Schools were consolidated in 1878, 
he became principal of the Cit}' Normal School, then the 
apex of Cleveland's public school system. In 1880 he 
entered the " Scientific Lecture" field with an object lesson 
on the then new "Electric Light." In mining phrase, he 
struck "pay dirt." After two years of success in this field, he 
began the organization of Brush Electric Light and Power 
Companies — a work for which teaching, authorship and 
lecturing had given him peculiar qualifications. His suc- 
cess here was quick and complete. Dr. Avery has organ- 
ized more electric lighting companies, and with a greater 
aggregate of capital, than any other man in America. 
This work has made his name as familiar to solid business 
men as his text-books have to their children. 

In 1878 his "Elements of Natural Philosophy" was 
published by Sheldon & Co. of New York City. Since 
that time their continued call for "copy " has brought forth 
a volume nearly ever\^ year. The results of this and his 
other literary activities are given in the article to which 
reference has been already made. Dr. Averv is a pleasing 
and effective public speaker as well as a successful writer. 
As such, his services are much sought and his voice is 
often heard in the public discussion of moral, scientific, 
educational, literary and political topics. Humani nihil 
alienum. 

In July, 1870, Mr. Aver\^ married Catharine, the daugh- 
ter of the Hon. Junius Tilden, one of the most prominent 
lawyers of Southern Michigan. For several years she 



426 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

was his able assistant in the school-room. Dr. Avery 
never fails to ascribe to her a great part of the success 
of life "thus jointly won." 



GEORGE H. ELY. 

A MAN who has for years occupied a most prominent 
position in the important relations of Lake Supe- 
rior iron ore to the growth and advancement of our city, 
deserves a more extended testimonial than the limits of 
this article will permit. 

Mr. George H. Ely was born in Rochester, New York, and 
enjoyed the advantages of a thorough classical education at 
his home academy and at Williams College. After gradua- 
tion, and while engaged in flour manufacture in his native 
city, his attention was called to the Lake Superior iron 
ore regions. To the opening and development of this 
then wilderness, by the construction of a railroad and the 
opening of mines, he devoted his energy and money, in 
company with his brothers, S. P. Ely and the late Heman 
B. Ely. Having thus become extensively interested in the 
iron ore business he came, in 1863, to Cleveland, the great 
distributing point of the iron ore production of the north- 
west. These relations to the iron business have remained 
unchanged to the present time. But they now include, 
also, in association with his brother, S. P. Ely, in the 
firm of George H. & S. P. Ely, prominent identification 
w^ith the latest northwest ore development — the opening 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 427 

of the Vermilion district in Minnesota by the Minnesota 
Iron company. Mr. Ely's business interests have ex- 
panded and prospered under his judicious management 
until he ranks as one of the leading iron men of the country. 
He has ever been an ardent friend of the commercial inter- 
ests of our lakes. Before many important government 
commissions and congressional committees he has been 
delegated to discuss the subject of lake and harbor im- 
provements, questions of tariff, and other matters of 
National importance. Mr. Ely has always been a stalwart 
friend of Cleveland's varied interests and industries. He is 
an able and enthusiastic advocate of protective tariff and 
is now one of the executive committee and a manager of 
the American Protective Tariff League. 

In November, 1879, Mr. Ely was chairman of a com- 
mittee of the Cleveland Board of Trade sent to Detroit to 
oppose before a government commission of engineers the 
bridging of the Detroit river. He showed so conclusively, 
"both in Detroit and before the joint congressional com- 
mittee on commerce in Washington, in the following 
winter, the damage to marine interests that such a struc- 
ture would work, that the scheme was killed. In De- 
cember, 1878, Mr. Ely was president of the Lake Im- 
provement Convention, called at St. Paul, mainly in the in- 
terest of the improvements on the St. Mary's river, and 
w^as appointed chairman of its committee to urge the 
necessary appropriations before Congress. This move- 
ment was highly successful, and gave a new impulse to the 
work on that great water outlet of the Northwest. Again 
Ihe represented our city in the convention at Sault Ste. Marie 



428 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

in July, 1887, called in the interest of the St. Mary's river. 
The memorial adopted by it to congress, urging the imme- 
diate completion of the new lock and Hay Lake channel 
was from his pen, and he was made chairman of an execu- 
tive committee of thirteen appointed to urge immediate 
appropriations. These improvements — one of which con- 
templates the building of the new lock and the other the 
opening of the Ha}^ Lake channel, involvmg the expendi- 
ture of seven millions of dollars — will give four feet addi- 
tional depth of water for the commerce of Lake Superior. 
These relations are National, but they include vast advan- 
tages to our city and State. 

Mr. Ely is a man of broad and liberal views, and has 
found time outside of his busy business life to become 
identified with various charitable and educational institu- 
tions. Though for many years he invariably declined 
ofiice, he, however, consented to be a candidate on the 
Republican ticket for State senator in 1883; and, repre- 
senting his county in that capacity for two years, was 
then, in 1885, reelected by a large vote and served a 
second term to the satisfaction of his constituency and of 
the State. 



CAPTAIN ALVA BRADLEY. 

INSEPARABLY identified with the marine interests and 
history of the chain of lakes was the life of the late 
Captain Alva Bradley, of Cleveland. He entered on his 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 429 

career as a sailor when a boy, and as a result of his industry 
handed down to his children a business the magnitude of 
which is second to few if any in the same line. Alva Brad- 
ley was born in Tolland County, Connecticut, November 
27, 1814, and came to Ohio with his father when nine 
years of age. The schooner which brought the family from 
Buffalo landed her passengers and cargo at the mouth of 
the Cuyahoga, for in those days vessels could not sail into 
the harbor. The elder Bradley located on a farm at 
Brownhelm, Lorain County, and for ten ^^ears Alva worked 
w^ith him at the plow and in the fields. Then, yielding to 
his long felt wish for a sailor's life, he went to the Port 
of Huron, Ohio, and engaged in a humble capacity on the 
Schooner Liberty. He was then nineteen, hardy and ener- 
getic. For two years he followed the fortunes of this ves- 
sel and continued this congenial avocation on various other 
boats until 1839, when, through his industry and honesty, 
he found himself in command of a schooner, the Commo- 
dore Lawrence, which sailed between this port and Buffalo. 
From this time young Bradley caught glimpses of the 
future opening up before him, and began to lay up for him- 
self a business that was destined to immense success. He 
had already become well known and w^ell liked by lake 
men. He early evinced that characteristic which marked 
his whole life — of making firm and lasting friends. In 1841, 
in company with the late Ahira Cobb, he built the schooner 
South America, a vessel of one hundred and four tons. He 
personally commanded the South America, with much 
financial success, for three seasons, and during several suc- 
ceeding years he sailed the various vessels w^hich his firm 



430 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

constructed. His business grew and prospered. In 1^52 
he gave up his active lake service and confined himself to 
the conduct of his vessel building and shipping from the 
home office. The Bradley fleet soon became one of the 
largest and finest on the lakes and is so acknowledged 
to-day. 

Captain Bradley owed his success entirely to his own 
efforts, to his Yankee grit and shrewd business sense. He 
accumulated great wealth but remained the same plain, 
simple, generous man that had won his friends when in 
active service. 

Captain Bradley was married in 1851 to Miss Hellen M. 
Burgess of Milan, Ohio, and at his death in 1885 left a 
family of three daughters and one son, the latter being 
entrusted to the management of the immense interests of 
his honored father. 



J. MILTON CURTISS. 

AS a projector and promoter of beneficent public en- 
terprises, Cleveland contains no more eminent or 
worth V citizen than J. Milton Curtiss. He was born in 
Medina county in 1840, his ancestors being among the 
staunchest of the early New England people. Young Cur- 
tiss spent his boyhood in Brooklyn village, a suburb of 
Cleveland, having theeducational advantages of Brooklyn 
Academy and the Cleveland Institute. He began the vo- 
cation of a school teacher, but gave it up for the nursery 




/ '^J^t^ 




CAAyUy^i 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



431 



business in connection with His brother, in which enter- 
prise he was unusually successful. As the city grew or gave 
evidence of growth about him, he laid out and sold hisland 
for residence building, and gave encouragement to many to 
own their little homes by projecting and carrying out the 
installment plan of paying for lots and homes. 

It was his love for improvement and his wish to see 
Cleveland develop her opportunities that led him into pub- 
lic life. He had helped to organize and had been one of the 
trustees of Brookh'n village, which office he resigned in 
1867, when he took up his residence within the corporate 
limits of Cleveland. In 1876 he was elected to the city 
council, to which he was reelected for six successive years. 
He was a prominent and influential member from the start, 
sustaining himself handsomely in all public discussion, and 
largelv promoted the welfare of the city by faithful and 
constant devotion to important public business. He was 
called to the Board of Park Commissioners shortly after, 
where for two \'ears he gave his best consideration to the 
improvement of the parks of Cleveland, contributing very 
much to their attractiveness and beauty by the knowledge 
gained and experience acquired in his European travels. 

The public enterprises of which Mr. Curtiss has been the 
moving spirit, and often the projector, can not be fully 
stated herein ; but among the many may be enumerated 
the Riverside Cemetery, one of the most attractive and 
lovely abodes of the dead of which any city can boast. 
The South-side Park is mainly the result of his long and 
persistent labors. His last great public enterprise was the 
great Central Viaduct or Belt-line Bridge, spanning the 



432 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

upper Cuyahoga Valley, and uniting the southwest and 
east sides of the city. Another important enterprise 
originated by Mr. Curtiss, and now occupying his atten- 
tion, is the Euclid Arcade, the greatest private improve- 
ment ever undertaken in Cleveland. He was also the pro- 
jector and is now vice-president of the Edgewood Club, 
whose summer hotel and spacious grounds are among the 
most costly and ornate of the Thousand Islands. To Mr. 
Curtiss' influence in carrying out this organization is 
largely due its great success. He spends his summers 
there and is an active manager of the association. 

He is an honorable and upright gentleman, charitable in 
his deeds, and exemplary in his life and character. 



RICHARD C. PARSONS. 

HON. R. C. PARSONS was born in New London, Con- 
necticut, October 10, 1826. His ancestors were 
among the oldest and most distinguished Puritan fami- 
lies of New England. His education was classical and 
legal. He was admitted to the Cleveland bar October, 
1851. He was elected to the Common Council in 1852, 
and in the year following was president of that body. He 
was a partner with the late Judge Spalding, and the legal 
firm of Spalding & Parsons w^as, during its continuance of 
several years, one of the most eminent in the State. In 
1857 Mr. Parsons was elected a member of the Ohio Legis- 
lature and reelected in 1859, serving the last two years a» 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 433 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1861 he was 
appointed Minister to ChiH by President Lincoln, but 
decHned the position. He however accepted the place of 
Consul to Rio Janeiro the same year, but resigned the 
office in 1862 and returned home, having accepted the 
position of Collector of Internal Revenue at Cleveland, 
at the request of his life-long friend, Salmon P. Chase, who 
was then Secretary of the Treasury. In 1866 he was 
made Marshal of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
which office he resigned in 1872, having been elected a 
member of Congress. He served two years in Congress 
with honorable distinction and greatly to the advantage 
of his district. He was tendered by President Johnson the 
Governorship of Montana or the place of Assistant Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, both of which he declined. 

The opportunities of Mr. Parson's life have been remark- 
able, and he has ever availed himself thereof to the ad- 
vancement of his country, his constituents and the munici- 
pality. Among the first measures of his legislative activity 
was the bill organizing the Ohio State Volunteers, and pro- 
viding for the maintenance of the organization . He carried 
through the Legislature a bill for introducing the study of 
German in the public schools of Cleveland. He specially 
distinguished himself during his first legislative term by a 
speech on the bill repealing the ten per cent, interest law. 
But it was in subsequent years when in Congress that he 
was enabled to render his district and the city the most sub- 
stantial service. Not the least among the benefits conferred 
upon the city was the bill he proposed and carried through 
which secured to a charitable institution of the city a long 



434 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

lease of the Marine Hospital and us extensive grounds at 
the nominal rent of one dollar per year. He secured an 
appropriation of thirty thousand dollars for the improve- 
ment of the harbor and for a pier light-house, and also the 
passage of a bill establishing a life-saving service in Cleve- 
land, the benefits of which have been demonstrated in the 
saving of more than iiftyiTves atid-muchpropertyuptothis 
date. The measure contemplating the expenditure of more 
than a million and a half dollars for the Cleveland break- 
water is chief among his official acts which have re- 
dounded to the commercial prosperity- of the citv and 
the mercantile marine of the lakes. He carried through 
the bill making an appropriation for the improvement of 
the harbor, and a pier at Rocky River, in this district. He 
was largely influential in cooperating with others in the 
passage of a bill relieving Cleveland and Marquette mining 
companies of taxes of upwards of a million dollars, and 
many special pension bills for soldiers and sailors. 

In 1876 Mr. Parsons became principal owner, and for 
three years editor-in-chief, of the Cleveland Herald. His 
last public service was that of National Bank Examiner 
for Ohio, which position he held for two years, resigning in. 
1887. He has made several visits to Europe and enriched 
his mind by travel and study. He is a thorough literary 
man and a clear, direct and forcible speaker, and his 
essays and addresses, which have been many, are elegant 
in diction and rich in substance. 

Mr. Parsons married the only daughter of the late Judge 
Starkweather, and his home has ever been one of happiness 
and hospitality. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 4v .) 

GENERAL J. H. DEVEREUX. 

NATURAL endowments and the best of ancestry com 
bined to give J. H. Devereux a splendid mental and 
physical equipment for the great work he was destined to 
do in the world. Pie was born in Boston, April 5, 1832, 
and his family line is traced directly to the hardy Norman 
Conquerors. The boy early gave promise of great brain 
force, an independence of character and an upright mind. 
He fitted himself with a good education at the Ports- 
mouth, New Hampshire, Academy, and in 1848 he came to 
Cleveland. Though but sixteen years of age he had cour- 
age, energy and ambition beyond his years. He began 
life as a railroad surveyor and civil engineer, a profession 
in which he was to attain high distinction. He never 
undertook an}' enterprise the requirements of which he did 
not fill. He first obtained employment as one of the con- 
structing engineers of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincin- 
nati railroad, where he was engaged until the comple- 
tion of the road, when he secured similar work on the 
Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula road, then seeking to 
give Cleveland an eastern outlet. He finished his contract 
on this line before he was twenty-one, and in 1852 turned 
toward the South. For nine years he was a busv con- 
struction engineer, nearly all of the time as resident engineer 
of the Tennessee & Alabama railroad. He became civil 
engineer of Nashville with the determination of locating 
there permanently, when the war broke out and his career 
was changed. He closed up his business and ofi'ered his 
services tothegovernment and was quickly placed inimjjor- 



43G HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

tant fields of service. General McCallum was in command 
of the Department of Railroads, and he appointed Mr. 
Devereux as chief of the government railroad lines of Vir- 
ginia. In this immense work he showed energj-, faithful- 
ness and far-seeing judgment that marked him as a man 
of no ordinary ability. His magnificent work was deeply 
appreciated by the government and by the commanding 
generals whose movements he so well provided for. Near 
the close of the war he resigned his task, and the resigna- 
tion was accepted with the deepest regret by those in com- 
mand as well as by the hundreds of men under his control. 
After severing his relations to the government he came to 
Cleveland and accepted the position of general superinten- 
dent of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh railroad. He was soon 
made vice-president, an oflSce he held until 1868, when he 
resigned to accept the vice-presidency of the old Lake Shore 
road. On his leaving the Pittsburgh road Mr. Devereux 
carried with him the undivided affection of all the officers 
and men on the line, and this can be said of him in every 
position he occupied. From the vice-president of the Lake 
Shore he became president until the consolidation of all the 
lines between Buffalo and Chicago, when he was made gen- 
eral manager of the entire line with executive control thereof 
— a position of immense responsibility. Under his adminis- 
tration the lines were very successful and attained a high 
reputation for safety, public accommodation and prudent 
and economical management. General Devereux had come 
forward in railroad circles to be oneof the very leading men 
in the Nation. He had numerous calls to assume charge of 
roads and he finally accepted the })residency of the Cleveland, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 437 

Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis, which he had 
helped to build twenty-four years before. This was in 
1873, and it was j^art of the same arrangement that he 
was to assume the presidency of the Atlantic & Great 
Western railroad at the same time. He w^as also presi- 
dent and manager of several other minor roads running 
in connection with these lines. The work before him 
was of gigantic magnitude, but his comprehensive mind 
and great mental and physical powers were equal to the 
duties. He remained at the head of the Cleveland, Colum- 
bus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis road until his death and 
brought it into rank as one of the model lines of the coun- 
try. Few greater railroad men than General Devereux 
have lived, but while this w^as his life's work he was also 
a friend, promoter and worker in the cause of religion, sci- 
ence, art and education in their highest forms. For years 
he was a member and senior w^arden of St. Paul's Episco- 
pal church. Shortly before his death he ordered that 
unnecessary Sunday work of all kinds should be dispensed 
with on the railroad. He did all he could to promote the 
moral welfare of the men under his control and encouraged 
the railway branch of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion to that end. One of General Devereux's marked char- 
acteristics was his love of home and family. It was in 
1851 that he married Miss Antoinette C. Kelsey, daughter 
of L. A. Kelsey, one of the early mayors of Cleveland, of 
w^hom mention is made elsewhere in this work. His wife 
and four children survive him. General Devereux was 
apparenth' in good health until shortly before his death. 
But in July, 1885, he was taken wnth some malady resem- 



438 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

bling lumbago and went to EngUmd lor treatment. He 
received the best and m )5t skilUul m.-dijal aid of London, 
but only to find that some internal disease was bringing 
him slowly to death. He returned to Cleveland in January, 
with the certain shadow of the end at hand. But he 
made daily visits to his ofiice to arrange his business 
affairs until the latter part of February, when he became 
unable to leave his room. The inevitable end was ap- 
proaching. He died March 17, 1887. 



TRUMAN P. HANDY. 

THE Commercial Bank of Lake Erie w^as organized and 
began business in the village of Cleveland in 1816. 
For four ^^ears it struggled for existence but failed. In 
1832 it was revived, and the directors called to their aid a 
bright young man who was then occupying the position 
of teller in the Bank of Buffalo. He was offered and ac- 
cepted the position of cashier in the new Cleveland bank. 
Coming to Cleveland, then a young city in the far West, 
Truman P. Handy brought his young bride with him, and 
entered on his business career on the same spot where he 
will undoubtedly close it. He was almost a stranger to 
the men who had thus placed their confidence in him. He 
has seen the banking business of Cleveland broaden and 
progress from its infancy, and for over half a century he 
has been one of the very foremost men to bring about and 
aid in its development. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 439 

Mr. Hand}' was born in Paris, Oneida county, 
New York, in 1807, and passed his 3'outhful days in 
attending the country schools and, more particularly, 
in vigorous farm work. His history is part of the 
histor\' of banking in Cleveland. Like the steady 
progress of a systematic, prosperous bank, it requires 
but few w^ords to outline its career, but the benefit 
which the business and social interests of Cleveland have 
received from it can never be fully written. The charter of 
the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie expired in 1842, and 
under the then existing laws of the State could not be re- 
newed. During the ten years of its existence it had made 
money and kept its credit. Mr. Handy's careful and 
energetic management of the institution had given him 
the confidence of the community. Being placed in charge 
of the affairs of the defunct bank by the stockholders, he 
at the same time carried on a private banking house under 
the firm name of T. P. Handy & Co. In 1845, three years 
later, the Legislature passed a law authorizing the estab- 
lishment of the State Bank of Ohio, and of independent 
branches thereof. Under this law Mr. Handy organized 
a banking enterprise under the name of the Commercial 
Branch of the State Bank of Ohio. W. A. Otis was made 
president and Mr. Handy cashier. He was the acting 
manager of the institution, and was so successful in his 
conduct of its affairs that the l)ank paid its stockholders 
an average of nearly twenty per cent, dividend during the 
period of its existence, and until the expiration of its 
charter in 1865. 

In 1861 Mr. Handy was elected president of the Mer- 



440 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

chant's Branch of the State Bank of Ohio, and when it 
was transformed into a National bank he still continued 
at its head. In 1885 the charter of the Merchant's Na- 
tional Bank having expired, the Mercantile National Bank 
became its successor, with Mr. Handy its president ; and 
to-day, though crowned with four-score vears, he retains 
his place as its honored and respected chief Few men 
have seen so long and so successful a career as Mr. Handy. 
He has accumulated a reasonable wealth, which has been a 
source of aid to many institutions of charity and educa- 
tion. In addition to his close attention to business, he has 
long been identified with educational work. He served 
several years in the Board of Education and is a trustee 
of Lane Theological Seminary, Adelbert College and Ober- 
lin College. For forty years and more he has been an elder 
of the Second Presbyterian church and prominently identi- 
fied with its Sunday-school work. In religious and benev- 
olent circles his influence is a power. All his life's work 
has been in an upward direction, doing good to others, 
enriching and making better the community he has seen 
grow up about him. 



A. K. SPENCER. 

NO name is more widel}' knoun or more favorably 
mentioned in the banking circles of Cleveland than 
that of the late A. K. Spencer. Beginning here when Na- 
tional banking w^as in its infancy, he grew with it and by 




? ^ 



\ ^ 



c::^i^^.<^^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 441 

his broad and cautious management aided very largely 
in establishing the stability of more than one local bank- 
ing house. He was born in Fort Ann, Washington county, 
New York, December 15, 1830, and died February 21 , 1881 . 
He was of best Puritan stock, and added to his common 
school education the physical culture which hard work on 
his father's farm afforded him. He thus became well equipped 
for the mental application of later years. After serving 
as clerk in various offices, he began his banking career as 
teller in the old Bank of Whitehall, in 1854. His brother-in- 
law had previousl}^ come to Cleveland and sent back glow- 
ing accounts of this thriving ci ty . Young Spencer decided to 
try his fortune here also and came on in 1856. He was 
equipped with good letters from his former employers, and 
by them was easily enabled to secure a good position as 
cashier with the Northern Transportation company. His 
desire for the banking business, however, led him to seek it 
again, and he secured a position with the banking house 
of S. W. Crittenden & Co. He remained with this insti- 
tution until it grew into the First National Bank of Cleve- 
land and the Seventh National Bank of the United States. 
He became cashier, a position he continued to hold until 
his death, though several times offered the presidency. 
This bank under his active management became, and still 
is, one of the most stable and influential in the city. 

In public life Mr. Spencer also was an important figure. 
For eight years he was a member of the Board of Educa- 
tion and served two successive terms in the City Council, for 
three years in the capacit}^ of chairman of the committee 
on finance. He was for years one of the directors of the 



442 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Citizens' Savings and Loan Association and a trustee and 
treasurer of the Mahoning Valley railroad. He was iden- 
tified with all public enterprises that aided in the better- 
ment of the city, State or Nation, and his sudden death was 
a blow to the business interests of the cit}^ from which it 
did not soon recover. 



LEMUEL ARTHUR RUSSELL. 

LEMUEL ARTHUR RUSSELL, attorney and coun- 
selor-at-law, has title to recognition in these pages 
as one of the leading members of the bar of Cuyahoga 
county. He was born in Westfield township, Medina 
county, Ohio, September 11, 1842. His father, the Rev. 
William Russell, was a Congregational minister, and, as 
xisual in those days, no wealthier than most of his profes- 
sion. When his son was eleven years old the family came 
to Cleveland, and young Russell entered Rockwell Street 
school, continuing his studies through the various grades 
until 1858, when he graduated from the Central High 
School as valedictorian of his class. During his school 
days he supported himself b}^ carrying to subscribers the 
old Evening Herald. Young Russell began his law studies 
as soon as he left school, under the guidance of Judge R. F. 
Paine. He then was offered a position in the law office of 
Adams & Canfield, where he could earn his living and 
study law at the same time. He passed two years under 
this excellent training, and on September 10, 1863, at the 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 443 

age of twenty-one, he was admitted to the bar. When he 
entered the bar he had no means with which to begin 
practice. He therefore began teaching district school in 
Rockport, Cuyahoga county, but had been thus engaged 
only a few Aveeks when he was offered and accepted a 
clerkship in the office of the disbursing quartermaster of 
the Department of the Cumberland, located at Chat- 
tanooga. He was subsequently transferred to the mili- 
tary railroad bureau, and thus remained until the close of 
the war, becoming chief clerk to the superintendent of 
several railroads in the military division of the Mississippi. 
While never engaged in any battle or ever becoming a 
soldier, he acquired a fund of information not only of the 
details of war but of that other important department, 
the railroad transportation operations of war. At the 
close of the rebellion Mr. Russell opened a law office in 
Nashville, Tennessee. But he had no practice. Being a 
Northern man, he was shunned by the citizens of the 
South, and he shunned the carpet-bag element. After a 
profitless year, as far as practice was concerned, in this 
Southern capital city, Mr. Russell gave up his office and 
leased a coal mine in Muhlenburgh county, Kentucky 
which he successfully operated for three years. The prop- 
erty then being sold, he returned to Cleveland and for one 
year superintended the oil refinery of W. G. Williams. 
Here he remained until the works were swallowed up by 
the Standard Oil Company. Mr. Russell now turned his 
attention once more to his chosen profession. It was not 
long before his services were called upon by his former 
friend, Mr. J. M. Adams, to assist the latter's firm in the 



444 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

preparation of a cause of defense for a great civil case 
brought against Robert B. Potter, then receiver of the 
Atlantic & Great Western railroad. So pleased were Mr. 
Adams and Mr. Otis with Mr. Russell's work that they 
offered him employment at a salary, and one year later 
associated him with them as a partner. Mr. Otis has 
since died, but Mr. Russell has for fourteen years been a 
member of this firm. He rapidly came to the front in his 
profession. He is distinguished for the courage of his 
opinions and the persistency and abiHty he display's in 
their promotion. In politics Mr. Russell is an old-time 
Democrat and an ultra-free trader and in favor of a single 
tax on land values only. He is independent, however, in 
all his views and opinions, yielding to no party in his ex- 
pression of them. On November 22, 1877, he was married 
to Miss Estelle S. Rawson, of Fremont, Ohio. His wife 
was and is a Roman Catholic in her faith, as are their 
children, but Mr. Russell pa^-s homage to no religion or 
creed but to do right because it is right. He is an orator 
of exceptional merits, and an attorney whose counsel is 
much sought and whose legal fighting abilities are in great 
demand because of their success in legal controversy. 



JOEL SCRANTON. 

WHEN Joel Scranton struck out for Ohio, then on 
the western edge of civilization, and in 1819 
anchored before a little hamlet at the mouth of the Cuya- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 445 

hoga river, he left behind him in his primitive Massachu- 
setts home but few evidences of modern progress, and on 
reaching Cleveland he found far less. His father, Stephen 
Scranton, was a man ahead of his age in enterprise, acute- 
nessand mechanical ability. He was the first to introduce 
cut nails into New York. He was a skilled workman (for 
those days) in steel and iron, and with great enterprise 
built works among the Otsego hills to carry on a prosper- 
ous business. But the crudity of things in those days, the 
primitive way of living, together with fire after fire, 
closed the elder Scranton's business. Joel was born in 
Betchertown, Massachusetts, in 1793, and after as good 
an education as could be had in his locality, he found him- 
self, at the age of twent\% thrown upon his own resources 
and with no opportunity of bettering himself in the fields 
about his earl}^ home. So he turned his e\^es to the West, 
to the fertile valleys of the Ohio, from which had reached 
his ears vague tales of prosperity and happiness. So after 
a long month or more of traveling by boat, by stage, on 
foot and on schooner, he at last found himself, as stated, 
at the mouth of the Cuyahoga. The little hamlet called 
Cleveland had at that time about one hundred and fifty 
souls and but few evidences to encourage an ambitious 
young man. On the sloping and thickly wooded banks of 
the river were scattered the cabins of the villagers. But 
the fields were green, the sheep and cattle which grazed on 
the banks and drank from the clear waters of the Cuya- 
hoga were sleek and fat, and young Scranton with no less 
than a prophetic vision caught a glimpse of the possibili- 
ties. He purchased n farm on the river bluffs and enjoyed 



446 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the rural pursuits of his fields. It was a quiet scene then, 
with waving verdure on the hillsides and an occasional 
farm house in the midst of the woods — and grazing sheep 
and lowing cattle. Mr. Scranton lived to see all this give 
way to the greatness of the present. He planned for the 
future and lived to share in the rewards of his own discern- 
ment. He took a leading place among the people of the 
village. He had a rich and plentiful fund of humor, and 
yet was independent in thought and action. His opinions 
■v\'ere convictions. He was cool, even calculating and 
shrewd, yet his heart was kindly and his deeds generous. 
He was a keen reader of men, and possessed great mercan- 
tile abilities. He judged of the future of the village and 
judged wisely. He knew how, when and where to buy, 
when to sell and when to hold. With the growing place 
he became a substantial man, and as the years went on 
became a wealthy man. On June 27, 1828, he was married 
to Miss Irene P. Hickox, the former preceptress of a ladies' 
seminary, and a lad}'^ of unusual cultivation, refinement 
and Christian piety. Five children were born to them, all 
but one of whom, together with their mother, preceded 
him to the tomb. Mrs. Mary S. Bradford, of Cleveland, is 
the only surviving child of Joel Scranton. To her his 
wealth descended, and through her it has cheered hundreds 
of hearts, alleviated suffering, lightened burdens, and 
aided many worthy institutions. 

Joel Scranton died on the ninth day of April, 1858, at 
the age of sixty-five. He had become one of the venerated 
citizens of the then great city. Heavil}^ built, a noble 
head, keen eye, a face suggestive of great reserve force, he 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 447 

was stricken down in his health by apoplexy and died in 
the midst of his life's prosperity. 



P. M. SPENCER. 

AMONG the younger bankers and business men in 
Cleveland none have attained greater success in 
life through their own efforts than the subject of this 
sketch. His ancestry is of sturdy and honorable English 
descent. Mr. Spencer was born March 1, 1844, in Fort 
Ann, Washington county, New York, and reared on his 
father's farm. He attended the district schools until 
seventeen years of age, at which time the breaking out 
of the war transformed the boy into the man, and he 
early enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-third New 
York Infantr3\ He followed the fortunes of his regi- 
ment in a number of severe engagements, principally the 
battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and 
Gettysburg. In 1863, however, protracted illness led 
to his honorable discharge, and he went home to recover 
his health. Not long afterward he secured a position 
as messenger in the First National Bank of this city, 
and it was with this institution that he early evinced 
talents which led to his successive progress in the various 
positions of the bank until he occupied the office of assist- 
ant cashier. This position he held many years. He saw, 
however, that there lay before him broader fields, and with 
a commendable ambition he set about quietly organizing 



448 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. * 

a new banking house. He enlisted the aid of a number of 
leading business men, and the result of his eifort led to the 
establishment of the Cleveland National Bank, an institu- 
tion which has in a few years taken high rank in the State. 
Mr. Spencer was elected cashier and one of the directors. 
To his credit it can be said that by his energetic but cau- 
tious polic}^ is largely due the extensive business of the 
bank and its confidence and friendship with business men. 
Mr. Spencer always took an active and patriotic interest 
in public affairs. For five successive terms he has repre- 
sented his ward in the City Council, the last three years 
as vice-president. His most important work has been 
done on committees having to do with the financial, judi- 
cial and legislative interests of the city, where his thorough 
business training and skill proved most valuable both in 
checking vicious or encouraging proper municipal legisla- 
tion. As chairman of the Committee on Finance, he per- 
haps gave to the community his most valuable counsel. 
In active work for his part}', he served three years as 
chairman of the Republican City Committee, being, in his 
control of the canvass, bold, shrewd and successful. He is 
identified with other public institutions, among which 
maybe mentioned his membership of the Board of Trustees 
of the Homoeopathic College. Mr. Spencer was married 
on January 30, 1873, to Miss Hattie E. Pannell, daughter 
of the veteran banker, James Pannell, of this city. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. -t^B 

RUFUS K. WINvSLOW. 

THE distinguished father of the subject of this sketch 
was one of the very first, as he was one of the most 
successful, among the early vessel owners on the lakes. 
The merchant marine interests established by the elder 
Winslow have grown under his and his son's careful man- 
agement also to be one of the largest on the lakes. Richard 
Winslow was born in Falmouth, Maine, in 1769, and after 
making a visit of what was then the far Northwest, 
decided to locate in Cleveland. In 1831 he purchased 
property on the river and vicinity which he saw was to 
be a valuable business localit}^ in the future. He brought 
ample capital and invested it liberally. He first engaged 
in the mercantile business on Union Lane, and shortly 
after became sigent for a line of vessels between Cleveland 
and Buffalo. In 1833 he became personally' interested in the 
vessel business, and with others built the hrig North Caro- 
lina. In 1836 he was largely interested in the building of 
the famous passenger steamer Bunker Hill, which gained a 
liistorical record in those early daj^s. From this date on 
he rapidly increased his business and added boat after 
l)oat to his line. At his death in 1854, at the ripe old age 
of eighty-eight, the Winslow fleet was one of the largest 
on the chain of lakes. Since 1848 his sons N. C, R. G., 
H. J. and R. K. had been interested with him, and at his 
death the great interests fell upon them. They continued 
to give their personal attention to the business and 
greatly increased it in every way, paying at that time 
particular attention to the passenger and freight business. 



450 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

The business increased until the Winslows owned and 
controlled over a hundred vessels, many of them being the 
largest and finest on the lakes and being seen and known 
in every shipping port. H.J. Winslow went to New York 
in 1860 and died in 1863; R. G. died in 1854, and N. C. 
died in 1880. The control of the Cleveland business has 
long been in the hands of Rufus K., the brothers some 
years before operating their interests from other points, 
principally Chicago and Buffalo. 

Rufus K. Winslow was born in Ocracoke, North Caro- 
lina, and came to Cleveland in 1831. At twenty-one he 
became associated in the vessel business with his brothers, 
N. C. and H. J. Winslow. With the increased demands 
of commerce, the firm enlarged their interests, and 
from that day to this the Winslow fleet has been one 
of the prominent features of lake trade. While confining 
their business almost entirely to the lakes, the brothers in 
1859-60 dispatched some vessels to the Black Sea. The 
operations since, however, are mainly on fresh water. In 
1851 Mr. Winslow was married to Miss Lucy B. Clarke, 
daughter of the late Dr. W. A. Clarke, of Cleveland. Mr. 
Winslow has ever been a public-spirited, conservative, pa- 
triotic citizen, interested in public enterprises and affairs, 
but declining the honor of public ofiice. By his means he 
aided and encouraged the cause of the government during 
the rebellion. A man of refined tastes, he has pursued his 
classical and scientific researches, and has become one of 
the leading scholars in ornithology. He was also for many 
years an active and energetic member and president of the 
Kirtland Academy of Natural Sciences, and is to-day a 




i=t3rn B.Dt! Fill: 



^-<^^;^^^A^/:/r^^^^^c^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 451 

liberal patron of the highest forms of art. A modest, un- 
assuming gentleman, his public worth is highly appreciated 
by the community of which he has so long been a part. 



L. E. HOLDEN. 

LE. HOLDEN was born in Raymond, Cumberland 
• county. State of Maine, June 20, 1834, and passed 
his early life in Sweden, Maine. His ancestors were 
of the Puritan stock ; his maternal ancestor, Isaac 
Stearns, came to Boston, Massachusetts, in May, 
1630, with Governor Winthrop. His paternal an- 
cestor in this countr}' came from England to Massa- 
chusetts in 1634. Both of these families were of the best 
of English blood, old and respected. The subject of this 
sketch inherited much of physical and mental strength; 
he was born in New England at that period of our coun- 
try's histor\' when the air was full of memories of the rev- 
olution, and high scholarship and statesmanship were the 
standards of honor which were presented to bovs. En- 
dowed with a strong desire for learning, he took advan- 
tage of all sources of instruction. Born on a farm and 
bred to work, every book that he could borrow or buvwas 
eagerly devoured. At the age of fifteen he became a 
teacher in the common schools, and at eighteen taught 
select schools in the neighboring villages, at t went v taught 
district schools in Massachusetts, and at twenty-one was 
prepared for college, entering Waterville College in Maine. 



452 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Having earned and paid for his preparation for college, 
he decided to stay out the first year of his college course 
and teach. He taught a high school at Denmark, Maine, 
also at Lovelle Village and at Bridgeton Center, in Maine, 
and cit the end of the year went back to college with 
monev sufficient to pay his way for two years. He ranked 
as one of the best scholars in his class and w^as elected 
class poet. Having determined to make a permanent 
home in the great West, he decided at the close of his Soph- 
omore year to goto the University of Michigan. He went 
there, and was at once admitted on presentation of his 
certificate of standing from Waterville College. Again from 
lack of funds he was obliged to teach for another year, 
and at the same time kept on with his studies at the univer- 
sitv. He secured a position in one of the Union schools of 
Ann Arbor, and was examined at the close of each term in 
the university, thus keeping up his studies and earning 
sufficient money with which to carry him through the 
last two years of his college life. He graduated in 1858, 
and, on the recommendation of the faculty of the univer- 
sity, he was elected to the professorshiji of rhetoric and 
English literature in Kalamazoo College, Michigan. For 
three years he filled this position, and remembers those as 
the three best years of his student life. Mr. Holden had 
always desired a literarj^ life, and the work of a college 
professor was especially pleasing and satisfactory-. 

In August, 1860, he married Miss Delia E. Bulkley, of 
Kalamazoo. The following j^ear he was elected Superin- 
tendent of the Public Schools of Tiffin, Ohio, and accepted 
the position, filling the same for one year. While at Kala- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 453- 

mazoo and in Tiffin he took up the study of law, and in 
1862 came to Cleveland to finish his law studies, entering- 
the office ol Judge J. P. Bishop where he studied for a year 
and was admitted to the bar in 1863. 

At this time the city of Cleveland had begun to grow 
rapidly and there seemed to be excellent opportunities for 
investment in real estate, and to this business instead of 
practicing law Mr. Holden devoted himself and was abun- 
dantly rewarded. He was one of the first to see the ad- 
vantages of East Cleveland and its great importance as a 
location for homes for the business men of Cleveland. He 
moved there and became identified with all its interests; 
was for nine years a member of the Board of Education of 
that village, and for eight years president of the Board. 
Under his administration the schools were classified, the 
High School building was erected, and everything that 
could be done by his influence to make life desirable and 
homes attractive in that portion of the city. Being 
largely interested in real estate, he was one of the first to 
move for the introduction of gas and water and to the 
general improvement of the streets, and was always sup- 
ported by the most enterprising citizens. He was the 
prime mover in the annexation of East Cleveland to the 
city of Cleveland. 

In 1873 Mr. Holden became interested in iron mines in 
Lake Superior, and was manager of the Pittsburgh and 
Lake Angeline in 1873—74, and by his foresight that prop- 
erty was brought from a losing to a paying basis and 
made one of the most productive mines in that section of 
the country. In 1874 Mr. Holden became interested in 



454 HISTORV OF CLEVELAND. 

mines in Utah, near Salt Lake City. He made a thorough 
study of metallurgy and mining geology, and by his 
knowledge and personal energy built up a very extensive 
business. He developed what was known as the "Old 
Telegraph" group of mines, built large furnaces, concen- 
trating and leaching works, and became one of the largest 
operators in that section of the country. While he had 
always been successful as an operator in real estate in 
Cleveland and as a manager and owner of mines in Lake 
Superior, the bulk of his fortune was made out of the sil- 
ver mines in Utah. In 1882 he was sent as a delegate to 
Washington by the Utah Mine Protective Association tc 
represent their interests before Congress. By his efforts 
more than by those of any other man the great mining 
interests of the West were saved from ruin, which would 
inevitably have come by the then proposed reduction of 
the tariff. In 1885 he was sent as a delegate to Wash- 
ington to the National Bi-Metallic Association, and 
was made chairman of its Executive Committee. Mr. 
Holden has spent a large proportion of his time 
since 1874 in Utah overlooking his business there. He 
never forgets that out of the schools and the training 
which the country had given to him were the sources of 
his happiness and prosperity, and therefore has always 
been willing to give of his time and money for the support 
of institutions of learning. He is now president of Salt 
Lake Academy, an institution which was started at his 
house and established by himself and his friends, and which 
to-day is doing a great and good work in the reformation 
of that country. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 455 

He is also a trustee of Adelbert College and Western 
Reserve University, and a member of many literary and 
charitable associations. Above all things he takes a deep 
interest in technical and manual training schools, believing 
that boys and girls should be trained to the love of labor, 
and to be producers instead of consumers in the world's 
economy. Mr. Holden has great faith in the future of 
Cleveland, and has shown himself willing to stake his for- 
tune and his work with its interests. He is president of 
the Plain Denier Publishing Company and the controlling 
owner of its stock. It is well known that since his pur- 
chase of the Plain Dealer it has become the leading Demo- 
cratic paper of the State, and one of the best newspapers 
in the country. It has been understood that Mr. Holden 
intends to devote himself and his future life to the interests 
of the Plain Dealer, at least as soon as he has completed 
certain undertakings in the more material line of business 
in which he is engaged. One of his enterprises, and one of 
great importance to the cit\' of Cleveland, is the building 
of the Hollenden Hotel, which in design and construction 
will be unsurpassed b\' any hotel building in the countr3^ 
Certainly it will be a credit to the cit}' of Cleveland and to 
the builder. It is proper to remark here that the name of 
this house was selected by Mr. Holden, is the old name of 
his father's family as it stood in the Saxon times, and is 
recorded in the list of estates made by William the Con- 
queror in Domesday book. Few^ men work harder or with 
a more determined purpose than Mr. Holden, and whilst 
singular good fortune seems to accompany his efforts, he is 
untiring in his determination to do what he undertakes to 



456 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

do. Mr. Holden is a member of the Congregational church, 
liberal in his religious and political views, but a strong 
believer in the democracy of Jefferson and the largest lib- 
ert}^ to the individual compatible with social and civil 
order. Mr. Holden says that he believes in the city for 
business, but in the country for home and for the nurture 
and growthof children, and to that end during nearly all of 
his life in Cleveland he has made a home in the outskirts of 
the city, where, when the work of the day was over, he 
could enjoy the society of his family and his books. This 
all know who have had the pleasure of visiting his home 
on the Lake Shore, five miles east of the cit}^, and seeing 
his collection of art and letters which his means and the 
fine taste of himself and wife have enabled them to collect. 



WILLIAM BOWLER. 

BORN of sturdy New England parentage and reared 
on his father's flourishing farm, William Bowler, 
son of George I. Bowler, became naturally fitted for the 
important work he was to do in promoting the ma- 
terial and moral welfare of Northern Ohio. He was 
born in Carlisle, Schoharie county, New York, on March 
25, 1822, and until eleven years of age lived on his father's 
farm and attended the common schools of Carlisle. At 
that age his parents moved to the Western Reserve 
and settled in Auburn, Geauga count}-, where the sub- 
ject of this sketch completed his education in a select 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 457 

school, and strengthened his mental training by teaching 
in the winter seasons. In beginning the business of life, 
he entered the trade of a currier and tanner, but this not 
being congenial to his tastes, he abandoned it for forming, 
which he followed successfully for six years. But his ambi- 
tion for broader fields in life led him to vSeek a future in 
this thriving city. He accordingly came to Cleveland in 
1851 and secured a position as book-keeper at Quayle & 
Martin's ship yard, and shortly after with Myers & Uhl. 
Being an active and vigorous Republican, and zealous in 
its early campaigns, he was selected, shortly after Lin- 
coln's first election, as Inspector and Deputy Collector of 
Customs for Cleveland, which position he filled to the 
greatest satisfaction for seven years. In 1862, while 
holding this office, he became interested in a small iron 
foundry, then started under the firm name of Bowlers & 
Maher, the Bowler being N. P., brother of William. He 
not long afterward purchased a one-third interest in the 
Globe Iron Works, but retained his interest for a vearonly. 
In 1869, in company- with Samuel Lord and J. H. Johnson, 
he started the Machine Works, known since as Lord, 
Bowler & Company, which establishment has grown to 
great prominence among the manufacturing houses of 
Cleveland, and still continues in the building of stationary 
engines and general machinery. Mr. J. W. Pearse was taken 
into the firm in 1880, and Frank W. Bowler, son of Wm. 
Bowler, January 1, 1886. Mr. Samuel Lord died in 1884» 
but the style of the firm remained unchanged. The firm of 
Bowlers & Maher was increased by the addition of C. A. 
Brayton, 1870, under the firm name of Bowlers, Maher & 



4.58 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

Bray ton, the establishment bein^ known as "The Cleve- 
land Foundry." In 1880 Messrs. Maher and Brayton sold 
their interests to the Messrs. Bowlers, who largely in- 
creased the plant and to-day are among the very leading 
foundries in the manufacture of car wheels and heavy 
castings. In 1887 Bowlers & Company, consisting of N. 
P. Bowler, WilHam Bowler and W. W. Balkwill, who 
became a partner in 1880, erected an extensive new 
foundry in the southern part of the city, giving them 
unexcelled facilities for their increased business. Mr. 
Bowler also owns the controlling interest in the wholesale 
jewelry house of Bowler & Burdick, whose business is 
extended through several States. In all his business enter- 
prises Mr. Bowler has been successful, and has illustrated 
in a marked degree business integrit}-, manliness and 
honor. He has also been a busy man in other than btisiness 
circles. In fields of charity, Christianity and education his 
influence has been felt. For forty-five years he has been 
a member of the Disciple church, and is a pillar of strength 
to its moral and benevolent work. An active supporter of 
the Young Men's Christian Association, he has served it 
two years as president. He has given plentifully to the 
support of the Bethel, the Tabernacle and other institu- 
tions which tend to lift up and encourage the poor and 
fallen. He has long been a trustee of Hiram College, and 
is one of ten men who took upon themselves the responsi- 
bility of rebuilding this institution. He has also made 
several very valuable gifts to the college, and aided it in 
many ways that cannot be enumerated. For many years 
he has held an eminent standing in the order of the Odd 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 4-59, 

Fellows, having passed all degrees and been trustee of its 
lodge. He is a member of the Edgewood Club, at whose 
grounds and buildings on the St. Lawrence river he spends 
part of each summer. His travels of late have been exten- 
sive, and he retains his robust health in his advanced years 
by peace and quiet in the enjoyment of his munificence and 
his pleasure in doing good. Mr. Bowler has been three 
times married. He was first wedded to Miss Mary B. 
Hubbell, of Chagrin Falls, September 30, 1846, who died 
in 1854 without issue. In 1855 he was married to Mrs. 
Annie Scarr, of North Royalton. By this marriage two 
children were born — a daughter, who died in infancy, and 
a son, Frank W. Bowler, the only child. The mother of 
these children died in 1862, and in 1867 he married his 
present v/ife. Miss Mary L. Robison. 

Mr. Bowler was a staunch supporter of the civil war. 
Sickness in his family prevented his leaving home, but 
he furnished a substitute without waiting for the draft. 
Two of his brothers enlisted, and one of them, Charles P. 
Bowler, of the Seventh 0. V. I., was killed at Cedar Mount- 
ain. J. Ross Bowler was assistant pay-master in the 
navy. 

Mr. Bowler is a man highly respected and honored in 
business and social circles for his benevolence and his high 
qualities of head and heart. 



460 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

GEORGE p. BURWELL AND PROHIBITION. 

JANUARY, 1869, is a meinorable date in the history of 
the Prohibition party of Ohio, and, for that matter, of 
the United States. It was at this time that a little body 
of men, believing that the time had come for immediate, 
determined and independent political action in the pro- 
hibition of the liquor traffic, met at Crestline, Ohio. 
When the rigid test w^as offered to all who signed the call, 
many shrank away and returned to their old parties. An 
earnest band of thirteen men, however, remained and pro- 
ceeded to build a platform, expressing their views on the 
liquor question, and forming the Prohibition party. This 
organization has since become one of the regular political 
parties, not only in Ohio but in the Nation. It is the object 
of this brief sketch to speak particularly of one of that 
little courageous band, and at the same time giving full 
credit to all who then and who now stand so bravely to 
their convictions. But none of the leaders in the cause of 
temperance have labored with more zeal in season and out 
of season, or have stood more firmly or courageously by 
his banner than George P. Burwell, of Cleveland. A 
descendant from staunch Puritan stock, he early exhibited 
many of those traits which have marked his manly efforts 
in later years. He was born at Alilford, Connecticut, Jan- 
uary 4, 1817, his father, Enoch Burwell, and his mother, 
Sally Peckham, being possessed of those sterling qualities 
of industry and integrity which they left as a legacy' to 
their son. George P. Burwell passed his boyhood days 
assisting his father on the farm and in the forests. His 




^/^'2^<^^L.j y-Zt^ ^ 



^ 0^/;9.^^^.^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVEKAM). 461 

Opportunities for education were limited, but he made the 
most of the public schools in New Haven and later the 
country schools at Talmadge, Ohio. His desire was to 
enter the medical profession, but the way did not open for 
him and he began the trade of a carpenter. He labored 
hard in this line for four years, and subsequently followed 
the carriage business. In May, 1847, * he came to Cleve- 
land and opened a grocery store, but with his limited capi- 
tal the business did not prove successful, and he returned 
to the building trade which for the next eighteen years he 
followed with varying success. It was in 1867 that he 
was induced to enter the insurance business as a solicitor, 
connected with the officeof Mr. H. F. Brayton. In this busi- 
ness he has rapidly grown prominent as an underwriter, 
serving as president for one year of the Cleveland Board 
of Underwriters. Mr. Bur well is also prominent in relig- 
ious and benevolent work, being identified wnth the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church and as one of the past trustees of 
the Cleveland Bethel. He has traced the line of his an- 
cestry back into an early period of English history. The 
tradition of the family origin is as follows : 

"Sir Knight John encamped on one occasion with his 
body of knights near an old well, around which a quantity 
of burdocks grew ; and from this circumstance he was 
called John of the the Burr — well, John de Burwell, John 
Burwell." In August, 1870, a picnic gathering of the 
Burwell family and their blood connections was held 

*In 1830 Mr. Burwell, in company with his family, while on their way 
from New Haven to Portage county, Ohio, stopped at Cleveland. This is 
the first time he had seen the promising city of Northern Ohio. 



462 HISTORY OF CLEVKLAND. 

at Burwell's farm in Milford, Connecticut, at which 
time the Burwell Historical Association of North America 
was formed, and the subject of this sketch was chosen its 
first president. 

Mr. Burwell's most active public wotk has been in 
the interests of the temperance parties. For two years 
was secretary of the Washingtonian Society. In 1847 he 
united with the Sons of Temperance and became one of its 
most influential leaders. In 1859 he was chosen to the 
office of Grand Worthy Patriarch, and in 1860 was made 
a member of the National Division of North America. His 
connection with the order continued uninterrupted for a 
quarter of a century, during which time he was always at 
his post of duty. He was identified with the Independent 
Order of Good Templars, and the Temple of Honor, and 
has held the position of Deputy Worthy Chief Templar. 

He was one of the first to take sides in the anti-slavery 
reform, and followed the fortunes of the Liberty party 
until it culminated in the organization of the Republican 
party, being several times a candidate on its ticket. He 
remained a member of the Republican party until 1869, 
when, as above related, he became one of the organizers 
of the Prohibition party. In the interests of this party he 
has since devoted the best efforts at his command and has 
seen its good influence in many directions, not the least of 
which is its check upon the tendency to liquor legislation 
in the other parties. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 463 



DAVID MORISON. 



AMONG the business men of Cleveland who, during the 
past decade, have given much of their valuable ser- 
vices to the municipal government, stands Senator David 
Morison. He v^-as elected in 1877 to represent the second 
ward in the City Council, where he remained through suc- 
cessive reelections till 1886, filling the office of president 
of that body from April, 1882 to April, 1883. Mr. Mori- 
son has served on the Board of Improvements three terms, 
Council member in 1880-81, and citizen member, elective, 
in 1886. Mr. Morison has had various opportunities to 
accept salaried public trusts, but has always declined them, 
preferring to serve the public in those capacities that do 
not interfere with one's private business. It has been 
truly said that his record has been healthful, beneficial and 
absolutely pure. 

Among the man}' important measures passed during Mr. 
Morison's career in the Council, especially while president, 
and which he used his influence to further, a few of the 
most important legislative acts w^ill be mentioned. 

While he was president of the Council an ordinance was 
passed, September 25, 1882, accepting from Mr. J. H. 
Wade the magnificent public park that has since borne 
the donor's name. On May 8 of the same year, right of 
way through the city was granted to the New York, 
Chicago & St. Louis railroad. 

Ordinances to authorize the Water-Works trustees to 
purchase lands for the Fairmount Street reservoir, and for 
the extension of the franchise of the Brooklyn Street rail- 



•i64 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

way line from Bank street through to Woodland 
Cemetery. 

To Mr. Morison is principally due the credit of causing 
the old and worthless paving of that day to be superseded 
by trimmed Medina stone, which is now used almost 
entirely in paving the streets It was while he was presi- 
dent of the Council that ordinances passed to repair the 
streets, Euclid avenue among them, with this material. 

Mr. Morison was born in Cleveland, October 16, 1848, 
of Scotch- American parents. He entered Oberlin College 
at twelve years of age, but before finishing his course the 
death of his father rendered it necessary for him to leave 
his studies, in which he had taken a lively interest, and 
assume the management of the real estate business of 
the heirs, consisting of two sons and four daughters. 
Although several years under age at the time of his father's 
demise, he soon proved himself worthy of the trust and 
capable of bearing the responsibility which had so sud- 
denly devolved upon him. He has since continued the real 
estate business with substantial success. 

Mr. Morison has first and always been a staunch Repub- 
lican. He took an interest in politics at an early age, 
though caring little for ofl&ce. When he became an official 
he had accumulated a rich fund of knowledge concerning 
municipal affairs, which rendered his services of more than 
ordinary value. His familiarity with the intricacies of city 
real estate and streets has often saved the public from 
fraud and needless expense. He has often served his party 
on local and state committees. 

Mr. Morison is of a kind and genial disposition, is a most 





^l^^^ut^^^^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 465 

reliable business man, and always and in every respect a 
gentleman. His splendid run for State Senator on the 
Republican ticket and his election in the campaign just 
closed is fresh in the memory of all. 

Mr. Alorison will make an able representative in our 
Senate, and will keep up our high reputation and raise 
that of politics and politicians. 



BENJAMIN ROSE. 

AMONG the truly self-made men of the Western Re- 
serve it would be hard to find one more entitled to 
the respect of the business community than Benjamin Rose. 
He was born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England, 
March 13, 1828, but early sought the promising fields of 
the new world. He had the advantage of a good schooling. 
It was in 1848 that, with his brother, George, he turned 
his steps to America, and locating in the city of Buffalo, 
found employment with Richard Bullymore, the head of 
an extensive provision house. He paid strict attention to 
business for a year, when late in 1849 he went to Cincin- 
nati where he remained until 1851, when he came to Cleve- 
land, whither his brother had preceded him, and the tw^o 
young men entered into business under the firm name of Rose 
& Brother. In a short time the partnership with George 
w^as dissolved and he took his brother Edward into part- 
nership, under the same firm name, in the provision business. 
In the succeedino^ ten vears various changes were made in 



466 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the firm, John Outhwaite being connected with the house 
for seven years, and in 1861 Mr. Benjamin Rose associated 
with himself Chauncey Prentiss, the partnership of Rose 
& Prentiss continuing for fourteen years. During this 
period the business grew to large proportions, the trade ex- 
tending into all parts of the country and to foreign lands. 
It was in 1875 that, the connection with Mr. Prentiss 
being terminated, Mr. Rose organized the Cleveland Pro- 
vision Company, taking into the new concern many ot his 
old employes. This compan}^ rapidly increased its business 
until to-day its goods are found in nearly every market 
of the United States, England, Scotland and Wales, the 
annual sales in money reaching the enormous sum of eight 
million dollars. Believing that it would be better for his 
goods to be shipped to foreign markets by a more direct and 
northerly route, Mr. Rose established a line of propellers 
from Cleveland to Montreal and thence by ocean steamers 
via Quebec to Liverpool, via north of Ireland, along 
the coast of Labrador and through the straits of Belle 
Isle. He found this enterprise feasible, and it would un- 
doubtedly have proved permanently successful but for the 
cry raised in England against the American hog product, 
which caused such a falling off in the business for the 
time being that the line was abandoned. Mr. Rose 
has been preeminent at the head of the provision business 
in this country in many important features of its growth. 
He was the first to introduce freezing machines in packing 
houses and the first to introduce the process of curing pro- 
visions in warm weather by artificial cold air. He has 
probably slaughtered and packed more hogs than any man 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 467 

in Ohio, and invented and put in use many devices of great 
utility among which may be mentioned a refrigerator and 
a singing machine, the latter burning the hair off of the 
hog instead of scalding, a process for preparing certain 
cuts of bacon for the London market. 

Mr. Rose has ever been a public-spirited and reliable 
business man, patriotic in the highest degree to the insti- 
tutions of his adopted country. He is largely interested 
in various Cleveland enterprises. He helped to organize 
the Euclid Avenue National Bank, and is a director 
in that institution. He is prominent in charitable organ- 
izations, and a vestryman in St. Paul's Episcopal church. 
In 1865 he was married to Miss Julia Still. Of his two 
children, Frank Albert Rose was drowned at the age of 
fifteen and the daughter died in infancy. In 1869—70 Mr. 
Rose made an extensive tour of Europe, lingering long 
among the familiar scenes of his boyhood. 



JOSEPH PERKINS. 

THE public, business, and personal life of one who 
filled so large a measure of usefulness in these three 
directions as did Joseph Perkins must be seen and studied, 
year in and year out, to be appreciated and understood ; 
and any description thereof seems commonplace and inad- 
equate beside the jbroad and remarkable character of the 
man as he was. Yet, in a community of which he w^as so 
prominent and useful a part, memory and appreciation 



468 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

can fill in the details of a sketch that, like this, is, perforce, 
in outline only. 

Mr. Perkins was born in Warren, Trumbull county, 
Ohio, on July 5, 1819— the son of General Simon Perkins, 
one of the honored pioneers of the Western Reserve — and 
died at Saratoga Springs, New York, on August 26, 1885. 
His early years were passed in school at Warren and 
Burton, and at Marietta college, from which he gradu- 
ated at the age of twenty. Returning home, he entered 
his father's extensive land-office, and gave himself indus- 
triously and attentively to its duties, until the death of 
General Perkins, in 1844. Several succeeding years were 
devoted to the settlement of his father's extensive estate, 
and that being accomplished, he removed to Cleveland in 
1852, which city was afterwards his home. He at once 
entered upon a busy career, making his business genius, 
his philanthropic heart, his unerring judgment, and his 
capital, effective in many ways for the advancement of the 
material, moral and educational interests of the city and 
State. To give anything like a fair and complete account 
of these various labors, would demand far more space 
than these pages can allow, and only a mention of the 
most important of them can be made. In his earlier days 
he was a director of the old Western Reserve bank, at 
Warren, and of the Bank of Geauga, at Painesville. In 
1853 he was elected to the presidencj- of the Bank of 
Commerce, of Cleveland, now the National Bank of Com- 
merce, and during the remainder of his life was officiall}' 
connected with it in that capacity' or as vice-president and 
director. He was also for a number of years officially 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 469 

connected with the Cleveland Society for Savings. He was 
one of the earliest and staunchest friends of the Cleveland 
& Mahoning railroad, holding the presidency at the time 
it was leased. Other business interests engaged his atten- 
tion from time to time, needless to enumerate in this 
connection, and to them all he gave a service that found 
its motive in the good of others and the general weal. 
But it was in work of a charitable, reformatory and edu- 
cational character that his best efforts were put forth, and 
by which he will be the longest and most lovingly remem- 
bered. The most prominent of these was his membership 
in the Ohio Board of State Charities; and it is but to 
repeat the testimony of all having knowledge of the facts, 
to declare that his was the hand that prepared the work 
and shaped the policy of that body from the beginning. 
He was appointed in 1867, upon the formation of the 
board, and remained a member until his death. The 
plan of the famous and humane "Jail System of Ohio" — 
copied the land over — was his creation, as were also the 
improved infirmary system and the model plan of the 
State Children's Home. He was for many years identified 
with works for temperance reform, and in the "Women's 
Crusade" of 1874 was chairman of the Advisory Board, 
giving of his time and means to advance the cause; 
and when, some years later, the Ohio Women's Christian 
Temperance Union were considering the movement that 
afterwards inaugurated "the Second Amendment" cam- 
paign, he took such steps as set it forward and made it 
possible, and was the loyal and generous friend of the 
amendment and the Union, from first to last. He was a 



470 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

constant friend of the Friendly Inns established in Cleve- 
land, and in his desire to care for the temporal and moral 
needs of those about him, was led to a labor in connection 
with the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum that cannot 
be overestimated, and the results of which will run on in 
good through many years of the future. He was made one 
of its trustees in 1860, and president in 1871, holding both 
positions through the remainder of his life. He was offi- 
cially connected with the Western Reserve College, in impor- 
tant capacities; a friend to Oberlin College and other educa- 
tional institutions; president of the association having 
charge of the Retreat; built and presented to the Women's 
Christian Association the day nursery that now bears his 
name; was a member of the Euclid Street Presb3-terian 
church, one of its most active workers, and for twenty 
years the superintendent of its Sunda}^ school. Some idea 
of the widespread character of his benevolence and activ- 
ity can be found in the fact that at the time of his death — 
some years after he had retired from active business — he 
still held the following responsible positions : President of 
the National Bank of Commerce, of the Lake View Ceme- 
tery Association, of the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asy- 
lum, of theBoardof Trustees of the Non-Partisan Women's 
Christian Temperance Union, and of the Board of Trust- 
ees of the Women's Christian Association ; vice-president of 
the Society for Savings, of the Western Reserve University, 
of the Western Reserve Historical Society, of the Humane 
Society, and of the Young Men's Christian Association ; 
treasurer of the Republic Iron Company ; director in the 
Citizens' Savings and Loan Association and the Mahoning 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 471 

Valley railway ; trustee and elder in the Euclid Avenue 
Presbyterian church, and the oldest member in service of 
the Board of State Charities. Manv other avenues 
through which his usefulness was felt, and the unbounded 
flow of his generosity sent, might be added to the above. 
But it is needless. The people of Cleveland know his 
deeds, and it seems fruitless that words should be multi- 
plied or monuments erected to keep alive his memory. 
When it was known that his noble life was ended and his 
useful hand and willing heart had ceased their many efforts 
for the good of those about him, many were the public 
expressions of the general loss — a word or so from some of 
them telling the story of his helpful life in brief compass : 
From the resolutions of the Cleveland bankers: "The 
community has lost a valued and much esteemed citizen, 
whose public and private worth is best attested by the 
many generous actions marking his rCvsidence among us." 
The directors of the National Bank of Commerce: "In the 
discharge of official duty, Mr. Perkins was invariably 
attentive, patient, faithful, prompt, conservative and 
wise." The society of the Euclid Avenue Presbyterian 
church: "One of the original founders of this church, he 
was always liberal in its support by giving generously of 
money, as also his wise counsel and personal labor. More- 
over, he was, in the church, in the Sabbath school, in the 
prayer circle, as well as in the daily walks of life, a most 
perfect exponent of an ideal life fully imbued with the spirit 
of our great Teacher and Master." The directors of the 
Republic Iron Company: "He has ^ministered his office 
among us, as he has every other trust during his whole 



472 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

life, faithfully, wisely and well." District Assembly No. 47, 
Knights of Labor: "The working classes of the city of 
Cleveland have lost a sincere friend, who, though rich, was 
never forgetful of the needs of the poor." The Women's 
Christian Association: "His interest in our work, and his 
benefactions, reach back to the first year of our organiza- 
tion, increasing as years and experience were added to our 
undertaking, culminating at last in the two homes which his 
hands so largely reared." The trustees and officers of the 
Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum: " He always took 
an active interest in the work of the asylum, and contrib- 
uted largely of his time and means to its support." The 
Ohio Board of State Charities: "Traces of his long and 
valuable service are seen in all the annual reports of the 
board, and the plans and estimates for jails and infirmaries 
therein published, and which we regard as the best in the 
world, are mainly his work, and were gotten up entirely 
at his expense." These words tell the story in full — the 
story of a remarkable and many-sided man, whose service 
to humanity was only equaled by the modesty with which 
he kept himself from the public gaze. 



WILLIAM. J. GORDON. 

THOMAS GORDON, ancestor of the subject of this 
sketch, came to America in 1684. He was a distin- 
guished man in Scotland and a brother of the Laird of 
Strobach. Becoming involved, however, in the political 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 473 

schemes of the Gordon clan, he emigrated to this 
country with his wife and children. He settled iii 
New Jersey and finally located in Freehold. He te- 
ceived many marks of favor from James ' H., with 
whom he was personally acquainted but to whom 
he was politically o])])osed. It was on his farm that the 
battle of Monmouth was fought, and it was there alslo 
that the home of the Gordon family remained for many 
generations. W. J. Gordon was born in the county of 
Monmouth, New Jersey, September 20, 1818, and passed 
his early boyhood days on his father's farm. He enjoyed 
the opportunities ol a good common school education, and 
was reared in a home where Scottish purity of life was the 
rule of every action. But the death of his father in 1830, 
and of his mother a year later, threw the lad on his own 
resources, and he started out in life. For some years he 
served as clerk in Red Bank, New Jersey, and in New York 
City. Visiting the West, however, he saw the future of 
Cleveland was promising, and at the age of twenty-one 
he established himself among the merchants of the village. 
Diligence and integrity crowned his efforts with success, 
and in due time his wholesale grocer}- became one of the 
largest in Ohio. In 1856 he became associated with 
George A. Fellows, of New York, and carried on business 
in that city in connection with his Cleveland house. To 
accommodate the increasing business of his firm, a large 
business block was erected on the corner of Superior and 
Mervvin streets, and the house became the largest in the 
West. In 1857 S. D. McMillan was taken in the firm, and 
in 1865, M. R. Cook. Mr. Gordon had become convinced 



474 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

that Lake Superior was an iron region which could be 
developed greatly to the advantage of Cleveland, and the 
result of a visit there led him to invest heavily in the ore 
fields. He became president of the Cleveland Iron Mining 
Company, and remained at its head until 1865, when he 
left for Europe. The success of the company and the ad- 
vantages it gave to Cleveland and the State were mar- 
velous. It was in the fall of 1853 that Mr. Gordon, in 
companv with Samuel Kimball, of the Jackson Iron Com- 
pany, shipped over a tram railway the first load of ore 
sent by rail from the mines of that region. In connection 
with J. H. Gorham, Mr. Gordon founded the first wooden- 
ware factory in this part of the country, and was largely 
interested in the Cleveland Non-Explosive Lamp Company 
which became one of the leading industries ol the State. 
In 1846 he was one of the organizers of the Commercial 
Mutual Insurance Company, of Cleveland, which was an 
exceedingly prosperous concern until the Chicago fire ot 
1871 . Not discouraged by this disaster, he rendered great 
service in the establishment ot the Mercantile Insurance 
Company, of which he is yet president. Mr. Gordon has 
been largely interested in real estate, and has built homes 
on easy terms for people in moderate circumstances, open- 
ing up various allotments with streets, courts, sewers and 
other improvements. His fortune has been largely used 
in developing industries which have enlarged the growth 
and advanced the wealth of Cleveland. Though he re- 
tired from active business in 1871, he is still largely en- 
gaged in various enterprises of a public and private use- 
fulness. Mr. Gordon in politics is a Democrat, but has 



HISTORY OF clp:velani). 4-75 

repeatedly declined high honors of a public character, 
which had been tendered him. In 1848 and again in 
1853, he served in the Citv Council. To be mayor of 
Glenville, the little suburb where he finds his home, is the 
height of his political ambition. Mr. Gordon's tastes for 
open air enjoyment has led him to the extensive cultiva- 
tion of plants and flowers and the building of great pri- 
vate conservatories in which he can display the finest 
collection of orchidaceous plants in the State, and in mid- 
winter can pluck from his gardens the most luscious of 
fruits. He expended large sums in beautifying the wilder- 
ness a few miles east of the city, until Gordon park is 
to-day one of the most exquisite private grounds in the 
country. It is a beautiful tract of land on the shore of 
the lake, where hundreds of men have been employed in 
beautifying it with walks, drives, grottoes and bowers. 
Here are his conservatories, his stables with many of the 
best horses in the country, and it is here that Mr. Gordon 
enjo\^s himself in walking on his grounds and among his 
plants, or handling the reins behind a team of trotters. 

Mr. Gordon is a man of great executive ability, sound 
judgment and eminent fitness for the discharge of great 
duties. He has a mind of unusual breadth and force, 
an iron will, a high character, and a rare genius for 
business. 



476 HISTORY OK CLEVELAND. 

vSYLVESTER T. EVERETT. 

^X^HE official relations of Mr. Everett with the munici- 
J. palitv of Cleveland have been long and eminent. For 
fourteen years he held the responsible office of City Treas- 
urer, being elected thereto for two terms by large majori- 
ties of the Republican party, and subsecjuently for five 
terms being endorsed by the Democratic party for that 
office, when his election was not only made doubly sure, 
but absolutelv unanimous — a circumstance unprecedented 
in the hivStory of the municipality. Such manifestation of 
personal and official regard of a i)eople is the highest and 
best evidence of the public and private virtues of a citizen. 
The first vear of Mr. E)verett's election to the treasury- 
ship he found the municipal credit so low that its bonds 
and other evidences of its obligations had for a series of 
vears been negotiated at a rate of discount so much below 
par as to indicate a distrust of jjublic faith regarding 
municipal securities, and his first financial efibrts were 
directed to the correction of such a discreditable state of 
the city's credit. 

The financial facilities at Mr. Everett's command, 
both at home and abroad, enabled him to negotiate the 
first series of bonds issued under his administration of the 
treasury, not alone at par, but at a premium. It was a 
new departure and a financial revolution, and a surprise 
to many local financiers, and especially to a few investors 
who knew the intrinsic value of Cleveland municipal bonds, 
and expected to obtain them as usual at an enormous rate 
of discount an'd shave. To such a financial standing did 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 477 

he elevate the city's credit in the money market, the first 
year of his advent in office, that never since has a bond 
been sold for less than its face, but invariably such securi- 
ties have commanded a high premium through competitive 
bids for the loan from both foreign and domestic monied 
institutions and private capitalists. 

In the fourteen years of his financial administration of 
the munici])al government — from 1869 to 1883— Mr. 
Everett not only won for himself a deservedly high repu- 
tation in financial circles, but also did much to establish 
the present welfare and to secure the continued advance- 
ment and prosperity of Cleveland ; and it is worthy of 
note that these public services were rendered and the bene- 
fits secured to the city when he was comparatively a 
young man, just entering upon that period called the 
prime of life. 

In 1876 Mr. Everett became president of the Second 
National Bank and also of the National Bank of Com- 
merce, its successor, upon reorganization, with increased 
capital and extended business. In 1883, having resigned 
the position last mentioned, he became largely instru- 
mental in the association of capitalists and the establish- 
ment of the Union National Bank, and, as vice-president 
and general manager thereof, soon advanced it far on the 
highway of business prosperity. 

Mr. Everett is recognized as possessing excellent execu- 
tive abilities which have called him into intimate and active 
association with many enterprises of a commercial and 
manufacturing nature, such as the Cleveland Rolling Mill 
Company, Citizens' Savings and Loan Association, Rail- 



478 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

road and Telegraph Compan\', including his appointment 
by President Garfield as Government Director of the Union 
Pacific railroad, and he is also a member of the Cleve- 
land Sinking Commission. Nevertheless his long and emi- 
nent services as City Treasurer — best known to the people of 
all his business life — will ever remain as the most happy 
and satisfactory page in his public record, and on which 
he may w^ell be content to rest his personal and financial 
reputation. 

Mr. Everett has not Ijeen unknown in ]K)litics, though 
incidental and of secondary importance to him j^ersonalh'. 
He was a delegate from the Cleveland district to the 
National Republican Convention at Chicago in 1880, and 
w^as an earnest and active su]j])orter of General Garfield in 
his successful campaign, to whom, and his friends, he ten- 
dered a reception at his residence on liis return from 
Chicago. 

In 1882 Mr. Everett was nominated for Congress, l)ut 
the fate of his party that year proving disastrous, he of 
necessity went down with it; but gallant and brave in the 
field of action, he fell with his face to the foe. 

Socially Mr. Everett is genial and pleasant and always 
approachable. Sometimes the unavoidable necessity arises 
of refusing to grant a financial favor, but with him it is 
ever accompanied with a kindness and grace of manner 
that relieves and mollifies even disappointment. 

Mr. Everett was born in Trumbull county in 1838, mar- 
ried a lady in Philadelphia in 1860, but whose life was 
brief In 1869 he married Miss Wade, daughter of the 
late Randall P. Wade and ofrand-daughter of Mr. b H. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 479 

Wade. Happ3' domestic relations and an elegant home 
are attractions and incentives which inspire to mental and 
physical activity and give assurance of future triumphs 
and enterprises to be ably and honorably achieved. 



IRAD KELLEY. 

THE fifth postmaster of Cleveland village was Irad 
PCelley. He succeeded Daniel Kelley in that office, 
holding it from 1817 to 1829. His brief but ample ac- 
count book, now in possession of the heirs, is an interest- 
ing relic which should be carefully preserved. 

Mr. Irad Kelley was Ijorn of Puritan parents in Middle- 
town, Connecticut, October 24, 1791. He served in the 
War of 1812, in the vicinity of Ogdensburg, and received 
a pension for gallantry. His term of enlistment as a min- 
ute man having expired, he came West in October, 1812, 
and purchased a farm in Huron countv. He was still iden- 
tified with the war movements, being with General Harri- 
son at Fort Meigs, at Detroit, after Hull's surrender, and 
on board the historic Queen Charlotte on the night suc- 
ceeding Perry's victory. 

At the close of the war he sold his farm and removed to 
Cleveland. In compaii}' with his brothers, Joseph R. arid 
Thomas, he engaged in marine business, running the 
schooner Merchants, which the brothers owned jointly. 

About 1815 Mr. Irad Kelley opened a general merchan- 
dise store on the site of the present Kelley block on Supe- 



4S(>. HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

rior street. Mr. Kelle^^ subsequently erected ou this spot 
tke first brick building in Cleveland. He was a staunch 
politician, formerly an old line Whig, an active business 
man, a public-spirited citizen, and was universally known 
throughout Northern Ohio. He was one of" the original 
twelve voters who elected Alfred Kelley president of the 
village in 1815. 

In 1833 Mr. Kelley and his brother, Datus, purchased 
Cunningham's Island, which has since borne the name of 
" Kelley 's Island." His sons, Norman and George Kelley, 
now own a part of this beautiful and fertile isle. Norman 
Kelley operates its extensive limestone quarries. 

Mr. Kelley was a writer of pith and eloquence, a fre- 
quent contributor to the citj^ papers, and his political odes 
and criticisms, his essays and papers on philosophical and 
other topics, evince culture and extensive information. 
Mr. Kelley was married to Miss Harriet Pease, of Cleve- 
la,nd, in 1819. Ten children were born to them, four of 
whom are living — two sons on Kelley's Island and two 
daughters in this city. 

Mr. Kelley possessed some eccentricities of character, 
esp.ecially in after life, which some people, not understand- 
ing, misinterpreted. He was a kind-hearted and charita- 
ble man, a substantial citizen of severe integrity, and ex- 
ej^ted a good influence upon the community at large, 
both in business and society. 

Over thirty years ago he represented to Congress the 
feasibility of building a transcontinental railroad connect- 
iiiig the two oceans, and urged upon government the neces- 
sity of such an enterprise as a matter of National defense,. 




IRAD KELLEY. 



482 HISTORY OF CLKVELAND. 

as well as of general commereial benefit to the country- 
His efforts were not then appreciated, being considered 
impracticable. He lived to see his cherished plans adopted 
and realized. 

Irad Kelley died of apoplexy January 21, 1875, in his 
eighty-fourth year, while in New York City on his way to 
South America. His remains were brought to Cleveland 
and now rest in Lake View cemeterv. 



RT. REV. BISHOP (^H.MOUR. 

RT. RP:V. RICHARD GILMOrR, D. I)., Catholic bishop 
of the diocese o[ Cleveland, was l)orn in Glasgow, 
Scotland, on the twenty-fourth day of September, 1824. 
His ])arents, John Gilmour and Marion Callander were 
zealous Covenanters and educated their only son in 
strict contormitv with the doctrine and requirements of 
the Covenant of Sancpiahar. Four vears after his birth, 
the future l)ishop was brought l)y his parents to Nova 
Scotia, where, with other Scotch families who had accom- 
panied them on the voyage, the family settled on a farm in a 
beautiful valley in the neighborhood of New Glasgow. Here 
he spent his early school days and learned the wierd and 
bright traditions of his race, and here, amid the struggles 
and privations of the hardy colonists, he developed an 
indomitable courage that knows no diificulty, and a ten- 
derness of heart that stoops to every misery. But before 
Richard's boyhood had far advanced, the Covenanter'slove 




.s 



^^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 483 

of freedom impelled his father to seek a home in the United 
States. He crossed the border, traveled southward, and 
invested the price of his Acadian home in Pennsylvania 
land, nearLatrobe. The schools ot the place had an ardent 
pupil in Richard. His love for reading and scientific inves- 
tigation increased with his years, and here he met the 
first Catholic that ever crossed his path. In his eighteenth 
year he went to Philadelphia, where he made the acquaint- 
ance of a venerable Catholic clergyman. Rev. Patrick Raf- 
ferty, whose candor, kindness and charity soon won his 
heart and cleared his mind of prejudice against the faith 
of which he has been for \'ears the guardian and sturdy 
defender. His desire to become a priest was simultaneous 
with his desire to become a Catholic. Unaided and alone, 
he made a thorough study of the doctrines ol the Catholic 
church. He made his profession of faith, and after two 
years matriculated at Mount St. Mary's college, Emmets- 
burgh, Maryland. His college course was exceptionalh^ 
brilliant and successful. From the beginning he held an 
honored position in his class, and was graduated, Master 
of Arts, in 1 848. Four years after, at the completion of his 
theological course, he was affiliated to the diocese of Cin- 
cinnati and ordained a priest by Archbishop Purcelfin St. 
Peter's cathedral, on the thirtieth of August, 1852. 

The first sjjiritual charge of Father Gilmour extended over 
eight counties in Southern Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia. 
His home was at Portsmouth, where he built the present 
English speaking Catholic church and whence he went out 
weekl}' to find and minister to the few Catholics scattered 
over the vast, wild territory committed to his care. He 



484 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

frequently crossed the Ohio and rode through the pathless 
woods of Kentucky and Virginia to impart joy to the 
sorrowful ; he labored among the miners of Ohio, 
built a church at Ironton, renewed the mission at Galli- 
polis and Wilksville, and in many other ways proved him- 
self worthy of a more important trust. In 1857 he was 
called to the pastorate of St. Patrick's church, Cincinnati. 
The congregation was large but unorganized, and destitute 
of parochial ambition. Order and life came at his bid- 
ding; a fine school-house was built, and St. Patrick's stood 
among the first parishes of the Archiepiscopal city. He 
resigned his charge, in 1868, and was appointed to a profes- 
sorship in Mount St. Mary's Seminary. This new field of 
labor, though congenial to his studious habits, was yet 
too full of routine and leisure for a mind schooled to the 
activity of the mission. In 1869 he was assigned to the 
pastoral charge of St. Joseph's church at Dayton, which 
he successfully held until consecrated bishop of Cleveland, 
in April, 1872. 

Iminediately after his consecration, Bishop Gilmour took 
possession of his see and entered vigorously on the heavy 
labors which nearly two years of an interregnurn had pro- 
vided for the successor of Dr. Rappe. F'or sometime before 
his call to the Episcopate he had in hand the preparation 
of a new series of school readers which he completed in the 
second year after his appointment. Under the manifold 
duties of his new office his health broke down and obliged 
him to seek, in rest and foreign travel, the prolongation of a 
life so near extinction. In 1876 he returned with restored 
health and entered anew on the dilties of his office. He 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 485 

has been most active in directing and encouraging good 
works. Since then many magnificent churches and fine 
school buildings have studded the diocese. He has written 
several stirring pastorals to his people, and frequently 
mingled with his fellow-citizens of other denominations to 
discuss and support questions of public importance. He 
took a leading part in the Provincial Council of Cincin- 
nati, in 1882, and was among the foremost in shaping the 
legislation of the Plenar}^ Council of Baltimore, in 1884. 
Deputed as the agent of the American Episcopate, he went 
to Rome in 1885 to explain and urge the adoption of the 
legislation of Baltimore. His mission was fruitful of 
much good, in that it helped bring the American church 
imder a system of laws adapted to our civil institutions. 
Nor did it fail to meet the thanks of those who knew and 
trusted his wisdom. 

Bishop Gilmour is a man of large views, progressive 
ideas and great public spirit. He is a vigorous and pol- 
ished writer, a clear and forcible orator, a kind and wise 
ruler, a constant and faithful friend, a staunch Catholic, 
yet most tolerant of the opinions of others; of stern 
demeanor, yet with a heart that melts in the presence 
of suffering. He is a strong man and a patriotic citizen. 



486 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

RT. REV. LOUIS AMADEUvS RAPPE, D.D.. 

RT. REV. LOUIS AMADEUS RAPPE, D.D., the first 
Catholic bishop of the diocese of Cleveland, was 
born in the department of Pas de Calais. France, on the 
second of February', 1801. His parents were of the peo- 
ple and remarkable for sterling piety and virtue. In early 
life he tilled his father's little farm and helped his elder 
brothers in the rugged battle of peasant life. On the eve 
of his majority his store of learning was but scant, yet 
with wonderful energy he turned his mind to a profession 
that required both education and skill. He had completed 
his twentieth year when he entered the college of the Abbe 
Haffringue at Boulogne and after four vears hard studv, 
matriculated in philosophy at the seminarv of Arras. 
There on the fourteenth of March, 1829, he was ordained 
a priest by Cardinal Latour d' Auvergne and was imme- 
diately assigned to a country curacy. In 1834' he was 
called from the village of Wizme to the chaplaincy of the 
Ursuline convent at Boulogne. For six years he held that 
humble but important position, not a moment of which 
was lost. Ever faithful in the discharge of his duty, he 
seized every spare moment to store his mind with that 
practical knowledge which was his great characteristic in 
after life. He read about the labors of the American 
missions and the -rising glory of the young Republic, and 
resolved to cross the seas. 

On his way to Rome, in 1840, Bishop Purcell, of Cincin- 
nati, bore a message from his diocese to the Ursulines at 
Boulogne. Here he met the ardent chaplain and learning his 




^^^ ' Ji^/^"^^^^^ 






oql Pub Oo 





-/■1.K/^ 




HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 487 

desire to serve on the American missions, invited him 
to his diocese on the banks of the Ohio. The invitation 
was heeded, and Father Rappe found himself in Cincin- 
nati in the avitumn of 1840, in his fortieth year and 
totally ignorant of the language of the country. With 
the inbred courage of a true missionary, he began almost 
immediately the work for which he had come to a strange 
land, gathering, as time went on, such a knowledge of the 
language as enabled him to do the work of his ministry. 
Having spent a short time at Chillicothe, he was per- 
manently stationed at Toledo, where he lived and labored 
amid fever and pestilential vapors for seven years. 

In 1847 the diocese of Cincinnati was divided and the 
diocese of Cleveland established. Among the names 
selected as worthy to bear its crosier, was that of Louis 
Amadeus Rappe, whose zeal and success on the Maumee 
were spoken of through the whole province. He received 
the appointment and was consecrated at Cincinnati on 
the tenth of October, 1847. Arrivingin Cleveland he found 
only one church, St. Mary's on the flats, which was then 
served by the Rev. Maurice Howard. Scattered through 
the new diocese, which stretches from the Pennsvlvania 
to the Indiana line, and from the lake over one hundred 
miles southward, were about forty unpretending church 
edifices. Neither hospitals, asylums, schools nor academies 
were yet thought of, but in the course oi a few vears the 
diocese teemed with institutions of learning and charitv. 
The foundation of the Cathedral was laid in 1848; soon 
after a temporary seminary for boys and ecclesiastics was 
opened on Theresa street ; the Ursuline sisterhood was 



488 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

established in 1850; St. Mary's Orphan Asylum for girls^ 
on Harmon street, opened its doors in 1851, and"St. Vin- 
cent's Asylum for orphan boys was founded in 1852. The 
building of churches kept pace with the increase of the 
population of the diocese until the forty-two small 
houses of worship gave place to thrice the number of 
temples dedicated to the service of God. Aided by a gen- 
erous public, Charit}' Hospital was built and equipped in 
1865; the Good Shepherd's reformatory^ for fallen women 
began its magnificent work on Lake street in 1869, and a 
year later, a home for the aged poor received its first 
guests on Erie street. In calling into existence all these 
works of religion and benevolence, Bisho]j Kappe's was 
the active mind, his the guiding hand. 

In the autumn of 1869 the aged bishoj) left Cleveland 
for Rome. The toil of long vears had made inroads on 
his strong constitution. He had partially lost his eyesight, 
and the cares of office had bent his .Vame. The diocese 
had grown sora])idly audits work had become so toilsome 
that com])lications arose, which, added to his phvsical 
infirmity, suggested to the bishop the wisdom of laving 
down his crosier. He assisted at the Vatican Council 
and at its close, or rather its suspension, prepared to carry 
his thought into effect. He accordingly resigned his see, 
retired to Vermont and betook himself once more to the 
congenial work of a missionary. For seven ^^ears he 
was ever present at his favorite post. The young were 
catechised, the old were instructed, all were lifted up and 
consoled. In the damp, uncertain mornings of autumn, 
w^hen the chilly rain often falls before the rising of the sun, 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 489 

he was found traveling from hamlet to hamlet on the 
banks of Lake Cham plain. It was his wont, and no one 
questioned its wisdom. But the grand constitution and 
proudly erect frame was wrecked. His death sickness 
seized him at Grand Isle and terminated at Milton, near 
St. Albans, on the eighth of September, 1877. His re- 
mains were brought to Cleveland and after a solemn 
funeral service, deposited in the crypts of St. John's cathe- 
dral. 

Bishop Rappe was a man of singular zeal in the fulfill- 
ment of his ministerial duties. Blessed with robust health 
and a wiry frame, he labored as few men could labor, and 
wore out both in doing good. He was the true type 
of a missionary rather than a great or far-seeing bishop, 
and for that reason made mistakes ; but his errors of judg- 
ment were few and insignificant when compared to his 
many deeds of charitj^ and the abiding good works he 
accomplished. Loving France with a Frenchman's love, 
he was yet a true lover of his adopted countr}^ During 
the civil war he was enthusiastically on the side of the 
Union. He had a soldier's heart, and, were it not for his 
sacred office, might have died a soldier's death. Courteous 
in his manners, if he wounded it was done with grace. 
He endeared himself to thousands, and tens of thousands 
mourned him when he died. 



490 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

HENRY M. CLAFLEN. 

^ I ''HOUGH at the present time the subject of this sketch 
-■- is in the prime of mental and physical strength, he 
has, for the last quarter of a century or more, stood in the 
front rank of thoroughly capable and successful business 
men. Endowed with invincible Puritan energy and integ- 
rity, he brought to the industrial circles of this growing 
city the Iresli and keensightedness so essential to its pros- 
perity. Henry M. Claflcn was born August 17, 1835, at 
Attleboro, Massachusetts. He traces his lineage to that 
resolute race of Scotch Coventry who contributed so much 
to the heroic character of the Puritan fathers. His mother 
was a Thacher of the Maytiower family of that name. 
Young Claflen was educated in the schools and academy 
of his native place, but at the early age of fifteen he entered 
on the business of life on his own account. He had 
.always had a fancvfor mechanical pursuits, and in March, 
1854, he came to Cleveland and entered into the employ 
of Thacher, Burt & Company, the great pioneer bridge- 
building firm. The head of the house, Peter Thacher, was 
Mr. Claflen's uncle. So thoroughly and assiduously did 
the young man apply himself to the principles of engineer- 
ing, as applied to bridge building, that he soon came to be 
relied on as one of the leading managers of the house. He 
remained with this concern until 1863, in the meantime 
"becoming a partner of Thacher, Gardner, Burt & Com- 
pany, proprietors of the Union Elevator. It was in this 
year that Mr. Claflen, in response to appeals of military 
engineers, organized a force of men and proceeded to Nash- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 491 

ville, where the rapid advance of the Union armies required 
the quick renewal of destroyed bridges. The magnitude 
and importance of his work for the government can but 
be alluded to in this brief sketch. His first work was the 
erection of the bridge over Running Water for the trans- 
portation of supplies and men to Chattanooga. This 
work accomplished, amidst difficulties well-nigh insur- 
mountable, Avas so well done that General Grant made it 
a subject of personal acknowledgment. Mr. Claflen 
remained in the service of the government until the close 
of the war, replacing bridges or building new ones often in 
advance of armies and often amid great difficulty and 
danger. His operations called him to Tennessee, Georgia, 
Alabama, Mississippi and Missouri, and so thoroughly 
was his rapid engineering work done, that many of the 
bridges he built remain in use to-day. 

At the close of the w^ar he returned to Cleveland and 
organized the firm of McNair}^ Claflen Company, for 
carrying on the bridge building business. This firm in the 
next few years, did some work of great magnitude. In 
1869 it w^as succeeded by the McNairy & Claflen Man- 
ufacturing Company, which added car building to bridge 
construction. Mr. Claflen was the chief manager of this 
company, which emplo\^ed constantly from six hundred to 
eight hundred men. The operations of the house were of 
great importance, they carrying on the construction of 
iron and wood bridges in nearly ever}' State in the Union, 
and building for one railroad system alone over eight 
thousand cars. The iron portion of the great Viaduct 
in Cleveland is a monument of their engineering skill. As 



492 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

early as 1865 the subject of street paving attracted Mr. 
Claflen's attention, and this city is indebted to him for the 
high standard of her block stone pavements, for the now 
famous Medina block paving stone is the result of his 
inventive and engineering skill. Though often controlling 
hundreds of men and in times of depression facing disas- 
trous strikes, Mr. Claflen has, b}' superior tact and no 
little humane consideration, brought himself and his firm 
through manv serious business struggles and at the same 
time saved the impetuous workmen and their families from 
suflfering. In all enterprises of a public nature he has been 
a willing adviser, contributor and coadjutor. He was 
married on May 24, 1863, to Miss Alice B. Hall, daughter 
of Dr. John Hall, of Toronto. Mr. Claflen has had and 
still has a very busy life in the management of manifold 
business operations, yet he has found time to take an 
active interest in other than business enterprises, if they 
would in any way contribute to the pros])erity of the 
citv he thirt3'-three vears ago adopted as his future home. 



DR. GAIUS J. JONES. 

THE paternal ancestors of the subject of this sketch 
were prominent in the colonial history of the Re- 
public, and he inherited the characteristics for energy and 
integrity which gave such eminence to the Puritan fathers. 
Gaius J. Jones was born in Remsen, Oneida county, New 
York, Februray 27, 1843. His grandparents came from 




^^^^-^ i/ f^ ^7-^-t^^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 493 

Wales in 1795 and resided for five years in Philadelphia, 
after which they removed to Trenton, Oneida county, 
then almost a complete wilderness. Jonathan Jones, the 
father of Gains, was a bricklayer and mason, but owned a 
farm on which his family was reared. Young Jones 
attended in winter the district schools of his county and 
the academy at Prospect, working on the farm in the 
summer months. At sixteen years of age he had made 
such progress that he passed all examinations before the 
school commissioner, but he refused him a certificate to 
teach because of his youth. In the following winter, 
however, he was given the certificate, though he was then 
a year j'ounger than the law required. In March, 1861, 
he secured a position as clerk in Utica, but the firing on 
Fort Sumter called him to other fields. He was the first 
from his township to enlist in what afterwards became 
Company E, of the Fourteenth New York Volunteers, Col- 
onel James McQuade, afterwards brigadier-general, being 
in command. After the battle of Bull Run his regiment 
was stationed on the banks of the Potomac, opposite 
Washington. Here a severe species of typhoid fever broke 
out in the regiment, which, by this disease, lost more men 
than in all subsequent service in the war. Corporal Jones 
was stricken with the fever and for four or five weeks his 
life hung in the balance. He was sent home when his friends 
expected he would soon die, but by careful maternal care he 
came through. In the following spring he began the study 
of medicine under Dr. M. M. Gardner, of Holland Patent, 
New York, and subsequently attended lectures in the 
Homoeopathic College in Cleveland. He began the prac- 



494 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

tice of medicine in Liverpool, Medina county, Ohio, in 
March, 1865, and soon proved a very successful practi- 
tioner. In July, 1866, he was married to Miss Emma Wil- 
mot, of Liverpool, and in the following September moved 
to Holland Patent, where he took up the practice of his 
preceptor. Things not proving satisfactory, however, he 
returned to Liverpool in 1867, and in 1 871 removed to Graf- 
ton, nine miles distant. He, however, retained the practice 
of both places and soon had a professional business second 
to none in Lorain county. It was in the following year 
that Dr. Jones was appointed lecturer adjunct to the chair 
of anatomy in the Cleveland College, £ind in 1873 was 
elected to the full professorship. This chair he. held until 
1878. For two vears after his election he remained in 
Grafton, but then removed to this city. He lectured on 
surgical as well as descriptive anatomy, and for a time 
on surgery in the absence of the occupant of that 
chair. In 1878 Dr. Jones was elected to the chair of 
theory and practice, which position he still occupies. In 
1885 he was chosen registrar of the college, and in 1879 
chosen surgeon-in-chief of the Lake Shore & Michigan 
Southern Railway Relief Association, which office he filled 
until the dissolution of the organization. In 1882 he was 
appointed surgeoti at Cleveland of the New York, Pennsyl- 
vania & Ohio railroad, and is to-day a leading member 
in County, State and National Medical Associations. P'or 
eleven years he has been a member of the staff of Huron 
Street Hospital. In 1884, on the organization of the Fifth 
Regiment Ohio National Guards, Dr. Jones was elected 
surgeon, but resigned in 1887. He has rapidly taken a lead- 




--- -N-l;- -^-if-X-s 



y^^^i^ 



XT/S^^f-c^c/c 33 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 4-95 

ing rank in medical circles in Ohio, and has now as large 
a practice as he can attend to with the aid of two assist- 
ants. For many years he has been a member of the 
Masonic fraternit}', having taken next to the highest degree 
it is possible to obtain in the order. In other than profes- 
sional circles Dr. Jones is one of the most eminent citizens 
of Cleveland, ever willing and active in the success of 
public or private enterprises which tend to encourage the 
prosperity of the city. 



BRENTON D. BABCOCK. 

HON. BRENTON D. BABCOCK, who was elected 
ma^^or of Cleveland in the spring of 1887 by the 
largest majority' ever given a Democratic candidate for 
the office in this city, was born at Adams, Jefterson county. 
New York, October 2, 1830. 

He was raised on a farm, to which his father moved 
when he was four years old, and acquired his education 
at the public schools and at Adams Seminary, upon which 
he attended as regularh^ as the farm work would permit 
until he reached his eighteenth year. Although he by no 
means despised the honest avocation of the agriculturist, 
it did not suit his tastes. Therefore, on leaving school he 
entered the general merchandise store of his father's uncle, 
Herman Grinnell, at Adams. In about a year the store 
was sold and Mr. Babcock went to Utica as clerk in a 
similar establishment, but soon left his employment and 



496 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

returned home. He soon after engaged in the same bus- 
iness in Henderson, New York, where he remained until 
1853, when he accepted a position as manager of a gen- 
eral store in Smithville, New York. Though but twenty- 
three years old, he had full charge of the establishment, 
and made his first trip to New York city to purchase goods 
for his firm. In two years, however, the store changed 
hands, and Mr. Babcock being disengaged was offered and 
accepted a clerkship in the Erie Railway line of steamers, 
which position he held for nine years. It was in 1865 
that he first came to Cleveland in the employ of Cross, 
Payne & Co., coal dealers, as bookkeeper. After serving 
this firm four years, Mr. Babcock went into partnershijj 
with Mr. H. P. Card, under the firm name of Card & Bab- 
cock, for mming coal. In 1875 he sold his interest to Mr. 
Card and in the following spring engaged with the coal 
firm of Tod, Morris & Co., as traveling salesman, at a 
salary equal to that he receives for his services as mayor. 
He was with Tod, Morris & Co., for three years, when a 
co-partnership was formed with Mr. Morris, as Babcock, 
Morris & Co., for mining coal, which firm has continued 
in business ever since. In 1885 the Babcock & Morris 
Coal Company was organized and still exists. It is one 
of the extensive mining companies in the Hocking valley. 
While with Mr. Card, Mr. Babcock's operations were 
principally in the Mahoning and Tuscarawas vallcA's, but 
since then they have been almost exclusively confined to 
the Hocking valley. Mr. Babcock has been in other busi- 
ness ventures than the mining of coal, but the latter has 
proved the most successful as he gave it his special atten- 



HISTORY OF CI.EVELAND. 497 

tion, which he did not other enterprises. Mr. Babcock 
joined the Free Masons in 1859, and has since risen to 
national prominence in that order. He has not only been 
an active mason, but is an ardent student of the literature 
of the order. His valuable library of two himdred and 
fifty volumes of purely masonic works is loaned to the 
Masonic Temple Association and comprises the greater 
part of the temple library. 

Mr. Babcock was married November 6, 1867, to Miss 
Elizabeth C. Smith, daughter of Dr. Geo. W. Smith, of 
Buffalo. Mrs. Babcock is one of the most active workers 
in the field of charity in Cleveland. Mr. Babcock has 
had no children. His brother, Charles F. Babcock, is the 
able manager of the Camp Creek Coal Co., and resides 
in this city. 

Mr. Babcock is one of the most substantial and highly 
respected business men in Cleveland, and the executive 
office of the city government could be placed in no safer 
hands. 



I. N. TOPLIFF. 

THE Western Reserve owes a boundless debt to sturdy 
New England. Hundreds of the influential men in 
all the bus}' vocations of life in the West came here en- 
dowed with the moral strength and energy deeply rooted 
in New England ancestry. Among those who have made 
Cleveland famous as a manufacturing centre and who 



498 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

have sent her products into all the markets of the world, 
none deserves more eminent note than I. N. Topliff. Born 
in Mansfield, Connecticut, on January 16, 1833, he was 
reared on a farm which had been held by the family for 
nearly two centuries. He is descended from the oldest and 
best New England stock. He passed his boA^hood da^'s in 
attendance at the district schools and later at Williston 
Academy, at East Hampton, Massachusetts. But the 
work of the farm enabled him to gain the advantages of 
school onh^ in the winter months, and his other knowledge 
he gathered in his evenings at home. At seventeen, by the 
death of his father, the care of the farm was thrown on 
him. For a year he carried on the laborious work, but 
determined to broaden his learning and his fields of labor, 
he went, in 1851, to New Jersey, and took charge of a dis- 
trict school. This occupation he followed for three years 
and the discipline then gained was of service to him ever 
after. His early taste for mechanics, however, led him, in 
the fall of 1854-, to go to Cleveland and from there 
to P^lyria where he had secured employment in a carriage 
factory. He learned this trade in all its branches, and in 
1859 opened an establishment of his own in Adrian, Mich- 
igan. His mechanical ability and his unusual qualities as 
a business manager made his efforts in Southern Michigan, 
despite many difficulties, eminently successful. In the fall 
of 1869 Mr. Topliff returned to Elyria, where he gave par- 
ticular attention to the manufacturing of certain inven- 
tions of his own in carriage hardware. One article alone, 
the result of Mr. ToplifTs inventive genius, is worthy of 
special note. That is the bow-socket which has, in the 




^^-^^^:^^^^^,,^ /^^^^^^ 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 499 

last dozen years, revolutionized the business of carriage 
making. The old way of making a buggy-bow was by 
the use of wood, the upright parts of which were covered 
with leather. Mr. ToplifiPs bow-socket is a sheet steel 
tube. It is a simple thing, but has made the inventor's 
name known in all parts of the world. So large had 
the business in which he was interested in Elyria become, 
that Mr. Topliff, in 1879. established extensive works in 
Cleveland, which, in a few years, have grown to be the 
largest establishment in the United States for the manu- 
facture of specialties in carriage hardware. The sale of 
its products are in every market in the world, and the 
number of the bow-sockets sold the present year are 
enough for two hundred thousand buggies. 

Mr. Topliff, while, of course, confining his attention 
chieflv to his particular line of business, has given his in- 
fluence to other enterprises, such as manufacturing con- 
cerns and banking houses. Throughout his long and busy 
life he has ever found time to pursue his study and gratify 
his keen literary tastes and love of travel. He was mar- 
ried December 11, 1862, to Miss Frances A. Hunt, 
daughter of Hon. C. W. Hunt, of Detroit, Michigan, and 
has one child, Mrs. Will P. Todd, of this city. 



I 



JAMES PANNELL. 

T is interesting to recall the early life of the men who, 
more than half a century ago, did their part in la3'ing 



500 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

the foundations of thivS great city. But few of those 
sturdy pioneers to whom Cleveland owes so much can still 
be found in active fields of usefulness. In this select list, 
however, the name of James Pannell stands out in promi- 
nence. Born on January 12, 1812, he early embarked 
toward the new west with the determination to make his 
way among her sturd3^ people. He set out with St. Louis 
fixed as his destination; but reaching Cleveland in 1832, and 
finding business rapidly recovering the depression of the 
past season, he easily found employment here as a builder. 
His prospects appeared so good that he gave up the idea 
of going farther west. He found fields of usefulness in this 
little city, and for manv vears was one of the leading 
builders in Cleveland. His last important work was the 
building of what is now known as the old court-house. 
He was a busy man, however, in other fields, and many 
public and private enterprises had the influence of his 
counsel and means. He early became prominent as an 
advocate of our public school system, and did his best to 
improve it. He lent a strong hand to the fostering of the 
militarv of the citv, and during the war lent his time and 
gave his money to the raising of troops for the service. In 
early fire department days none were more vigorous in 
maintaining and supporting an efficient department, and 
for years he himself was a member of Old Neptune No. 2. 
After years of active business efforts Mr. Pannell 
concluded to allow himself a rest therefrom, and give his 
attention to less exacting duties. He accordingly invested 
part of his means in banking, and for the past twenty-six 
years he has been largely interested in the banks of Cleve- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 501 

land. He was one of the original trustees of the Society 
for Savings and one of the founders of the banking house 
of S. W. Crittenden & Company. When in 1863 this 
house was merged into the First National Bank of Cleve- 
land, Mr. Pannell became a director and was elected 
vice-president in 1876, and continued his connection 
with the bank in this capacity until he left to take 
part in the organization of the Cleveland National 
Bank in 1883. He is vice-president and director of this 
latter organization, and has taken great interest in its 
welfare, being one of the men who has put it on such a 
permanent footing. Mr. Pannell is a careful and judicious 
business man, a capable manager of his own and those 
interests with which he has been intrusted. In all fields of 
labor he has been a worthy and respected citizen of this 
community. In 1836 he was married to Miss Amelia 
Newell, with whom he has lived happily for more than half 
a century. His only living child is Mrs. P. M. Spencer, of 
this citv. 



MOSES KELLY. 

THE late Moses Kelly stood at the head of the Cleve- 
land bar in commercial and equity jurisprudence. 
His father was of Scotch-Irish descent and his mother of 
German, combining the best elements for mental strength. 
Moses Kelly was born in Groveland, Livingston county, 
then Ontario county, New York, January 21, 1809. He 



502 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

worked in his father's fields and attended the country 
school until eighteen years old, when he began preparing 
for college, under the splendid tutorship of Cornelius C. Fel- 
ton, afterwards president of Howard University. He en- 
tered Harvard College and graduated in 1833. For the 
next three years he studied law in Rochester, and in 1836 
came here to enter into partnership with his former class- 
mate, the late Thomas Bolton. The law firm of Bolton & 
Kelly rapidly took high rank and gained good practice. 
In 1839 Mr. Kelly was made city attorney, and in 1841 was 
elected to the City Council, where he was prominent in 
promoting measures looking to the better protection of 
the lake front from the ravages of the lake. In 1844-45 
he represented the Whig party of Cuyahoga and Geauga 
counties in the State Senate, distinguishing himself in his 
able and independent stand on measures of great public 
importance. He did not hesitate to oppose his own party, 
as vigorously as the opposition, if he believed himself right 
in so doing. He fought both parties in a bill to reduce the 
pay of State officers and judges to an inadequate sum, 
and though the measure passed it was repealed at the suc- 
ceeding session. 

The party to which he belonged favored the establish- 
ment of a State bank, with branches, and introduced a 
bill to that effect. He fought it inch by inch, and advo- 
cated a system of free banking, with currency based on 
State stocks. Despite his vigorous efforts the State Bank 
was established, but he had secured the addition to the 
bill of sections permitting the establishment of indepen- 
dent banks with circulation based on State stocks depos- 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 503 

ited with the State government, and he also secured 
-certain checks and safeguards to the State Bank system. 
His course was subsequently approved at a mass meeting 
of citizens, irrespective of party, held at Cleveland. At 
the same session of the Legislature an important measure, 
arising from the lack of banking facilities, was disposed of. 
The Ohio Life & Trust Company was one of great finan- 
cial strength, with a large and influential membership. 
The State not having then adopted a banking sj'stem, an 
effort was made to clothe this company with authority to 
issue bills to the extent of five hundred thousand dollars 
to be circulated in currenc3\ The arguments in favor of 
the bill were plausible and the opposition apparently not 
important. But when, on its third reading, Mr. Kelly 
attacked the measure in a speech of intense vigor and un- 
answerable arguments, his logic and reasoning were 
irresistible, and the bill failed. At the conclusion of this 
important session of the Legislature, he returned to his 
profession. In 1849 he was appointed by the Legislature 
one of the commissioners for the city of Cleveland on 
behalf of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Compan^^ 
He represented the city's interest on the Board of Direc- 
tors for several years, until the stock held by the city was 
disposed of. 

Mr. Bolton, his law partner, having been elected a com- 
mon pleas judge in 1856, the firm name was changed to 
Kelly & Griswold, the latter gentleman having been ad- 
mitted to the firm five years previous. In 1866 Mr. Kelly 
was a member of the Philadelphia Convention for healing 
the bitterness growing out of the war between the North 



504 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

and the South, and in September of the same year Presi- 
dent Johnson appointed him United States District Attor- 
ney for the Northern District of Ohio. Owing to illfeehng 
between the Executive and the Senate, however, his nomi- 
nation was not confirmed, and in the following March he 
w^ithdrew from the ofiice. Besides his various public 
trusts he was a stockholder, director and attorney for the 
City Bank of Cleveland, organized under the law of 1845, 
and held this office until its reorganization as the National 
City Bank, and of that institution until his death. He 
■was one of the organizers of St. Paul's Protestant Episco- 
pal church, and was an active worker in this society. In 
1839 he was married to Miss Jane M. Howe, daughter of 
General Hezekiah Howe, of New Haven, Connecticut. The 
eldest of his five children, Frank H. Kelly, was a member 
of the City Council during the years 1873, '74 and '75, and 
the latter year was president of that body. He now 
occupies the bench as Police Judge of the city of Cleve- 
land. Moses Kelly died August 15, 1870. 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 505 

W. J. SCOTT M. D. 

THE subject of this sketch has for years been accorded 
the very front rank among the eminent physicians 
and surgeons of Ohio. In professional skill, excellence of 
character, self-sacrifice in the interests of the public and 
general usefulness, Dr. Scott is without a peer. He was 
born January 25. 1822, in Culpepper county, Virginia, of 
Scottish parents. Eager to acquire a good education, he 
entered Kenyon College at Gambler, Ohio. Passing 
through the preparatory department, he took up the clas- 
sical course, studying also chemistry, medicine and mathe- 
matics, and graduated with the degree of B. A. in 1848. 
He was one of the strongest men in the institution, which 
is further proved by the fact that he was tendered and 
accepted for two years a chair among the faculty immedi- 
ately after matriculation. Having adopted the profession 
of medicine, he studied it at Gambler as best he could, 
and in in 1849 and 1850 attended the medical college at 
Cleveland, after which he again returned to Gam brier. 
Soon after this he became professor of chemistry in Jeffer- 
son College, Washington, Mississippi. In 1853 he re- 
turned to Ohio and finished his medical course in Sterling 
Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, receiving the degree of 
M. D. He then began his professional labors in Franklin 
county, soon working up a lucrative practice, which he 
continued to augment for ten years. He soon became 
widely known, and in 1861, at the beginning of the rebel- 
lion, he was appointed recruiting ofiicer and examiner. 
But having been made professor of materia medica and 



506 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

therapeutics in Charity Hospital Medical College, this 
city, since become the medical department of the Univer- 
sity of Wooster, he again removed to Cleveland in 1863, 
and has been here ever since. Some time afterwards he 
taught theory and practice and chemical medicine. He 
still continues to hold this latter position in the depart- 
ment of the and Cleveland Medical College. 

Governor Tod, in 1864, appointed Dr. Scott as a visitor 
to the military hospitals at Louisville and Nashville, to 
look especially after the welfare of the Ohio soldiers con- 
fined therein. He ably fulfilled the mission. Dr. Scott has 
for years been a member of the American Medical Associa- 
tion ; the Ohio Medical Association of which he was for a 
time president. He is yet prominently identified w^ith 
various medical associations both local and National. 

After the reorganization, in 1880, of the Board of Health 
of this city, from the state of inefficiency into which it had 
fallen. Dr. Scott was elected a member of that body by 
the Common Council. His services in this capacity proved 
so excellent and so indispensable that he has been retained 
on the board ever since. Many of the admirable reforms 
introduced into that supremeh^ important department of 
the local government are due to Dr. Scott, as is also, very 
largely, its efficiency and unimpeached integrit3^ The 
statutes of the State of Ohio give more power to the 
Health Board than to any other local board, and it is of 
the utmost importance that this body should be composed 
of men of the best ability and most honest purpose. On No- 
vember 28, 1858, he was married to Miss Mary F. Stone, of 
Johnsbury, Vermont. Dr. Scott has never ceased study since 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 507 

he began his career. He is an omniverous reader, and has a 
peculiar faculty for retaining and utilizing all the informa- 
tion he acquires. He has availed himself of all the advan- 
tages which conduce to the making of an eminent doctor of 
medicine — scientific research at home, indefatigable indus- 
try, development in the best of daily practice, and the 
utility of every new idea. 



508 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 



JOHN GALT STOCKLY. 

THE subject of this sketch was not only one of the 
pioneers but one of the very foremost men of this' 

city, who has left his impress fixed indelibly upon her 
material prosperity. John Gait Stocklj^ was born in 

Philadelphia, May 24, 1799, and was the son of Ayres 
and Mary (Gait) Stockly. The progenitor of the family 
who first came to this country, John Stockly, settled in Vir- 
ginia, in 1609. 

The family lived in Virginia nearly two hundred \^ears,. 
and then Ayers Stockly removed to Philadelphia, where 
he died in 1802. John was brought up in Philadelphia, 
and early in life started a shipyard there in company with 
John Berryman. When about twenty-five he went to 
Buffalo, and two years later went to Canada and there 
aided in the building of the town of Allanburgh on the 
Welland canal. He resided there until the breaking out of 
the Canadian Rebellion w^hen he removed to Cleveland, 
This was in 1838, and he found here only a crude frontier 
town. He engaged in various enterprises until he finally 
entered the shipping business and threw his energies into 
the building up of a coal trade in this city. He shipped the 
first boat load of coal that went out of Cleveland. He 



HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 509 

afterward turned over his coal business to his bookkeeper, 
Lemuel Crawford, and gave his attention to the increasing 
of the local harbor facilities. He set to work with limited 
means and less encouragement to build a pier of spiles east 
of the mouth of the river and extending some distance 
into the lake. This was known for many years as "Stock- 
ly's Pier." This demonstrated the feasibility of building 
docks and foundations for depots at the mouth of the 
river, and soon ever}^ railroad made use of the idea. Mr. 
Stockh^ originated the idea of a breakwater, and built a 
short section at his own expense at the foot of Wood 
street. He was also the first one to suggest the city 
buying the lake shore front and converting the dump- 
ing ground into parks. His idea has finally been carried 
out. Mr. Stockly took great interest in all movements 
pertaining to the improvement or growth of the city, and 
at one time was the owner oi an ample fortune in a large 
amount of real estate that is now in the heart of the busi- 
ness section of the city. He most thoroughly believed in 
the great future of Cleveland, and did his best to aid in its 
development. He was of commanding personal appear- 
ance, of great executive ability, and was noted for his per- 
sonal bravery. He was a Presbyterian in faith and a 
Whig in politics and afterwards an ardent Republican. 
Intenseh'^ patriotic, he determined to serve his country in 
the war, and though too old for service, he was with the 
hospital fleet on the Mississippi under Commodore Porter, 
in 1862. He there contracted an illness which, three 
months after his return home, resulted in his death, on the 
twenty-first of May, 1863. He was buried with military 



510 HISTORY OF CLEVELAND. 

honors, and his casket was enshrouded in the starry ban- 
ner he loved so well. 

His widow survived him until 1882, and three of his 
children still live in this city; Mrs. John E. Gary, Mr. 
George W. Stockly, (president of the Brush Electric Com- 
pany); and Mrs. Clarence C. Curtiss. Another daughter, 
Mrs. Albert W. Watrous, now resides in Charleston, West 
Virginia, and another, Mrs. Otis B. Boise, in New York 
City. A son, Charles E. Stockly, died in December, 1886. 



APPENDIX. 



OFFICIAL LIST. 

AN ABBREVIATED COMPENDIUM OF CITY, COUNTY AND 
UNITED STATES OFFICIALS (MEMBERS OF BOARDS AND 
HEADS OF departments) RESIDENT IN CLEVELAND, EX- 
TENDING OVER THE PERIOD FROM 1836 TO 1887. 

TO compile this valuable feature of the History of 
Cleveland and make it reasonably accurate, re- 
quired a large amount of work and the exercise of much 
patience. This is the first attempt at anything of the 
kind. The sources of information were the old city direc- 
tories, the codified city ordinances and the records in the 
City Clerk's office, from the time the latter began to be 
kept in a systematic manner. There are man}' names 
missing, but that was unavoidable. The city directories 
could not always be relied upon, as they were published 
by many different houses, each having a system different 
from the last. The names of officers elected to fill unex- 
pired terms frequently do not appear at all. But the great 
majority of names are given, and the dates and offices are 

I 



II APPENDIX. 

very correct, considering the condition of the records. 
The list is so large that it was necessary to abbreviate as 
much as possible, and details could not be stated. The 
dates of birth, coming to Cleveland and death have been 
included in all cases where the information could be ob- 
tained, but where there was considerable uncertainty they 
have been omitted. The list as it stands, however, will be 
of great usefulness for reference, especially to newspapers 
and city historiographers. The system of presentation 
employed was, after careful experiment, adjudged to be 
the most convenient. 

ABBREVIATIONS. 

Aid. — Board of Aldermen. 

Asst. — Assistant. 

B.— Born. 

Bd. Ed.— Board of Education. 

Bd. Impr. — Board of Improvements. 

Came to C— Came to Cleveland. 

Com. — Common. 

Comr. — Commissioner. 

Ct.— Court. 

Clk.-Clerk. 

Col.— Collector. 

D.— Died. 

Fire Bd.— Board of Fire Commissioners. 

H. C— House of Correction, or Work House. 

Inf Bd.— Board of Infirmary. 

Int. — Internal. 

J. P.— Justice of the Peace. 

Police Bd. — Board of Police Commissioners. 

Wks.— Works. 

Wk. House.— Work House. 



APPENDIX. in 

A. 

Abby, S. A. — Police judge, '67; deceased. 

Ackley, John M. — Countv surveyor, '72 to '73. 

Adams,'Henry H— Bd. e'd. 10 w., '38 to '39. 

Adams, W. K. — Council, 3 w., '46. 

Akers, Win. J. — B. '45; came to C. in '46; bd. ed., library' board; hotel 

business. 
Allen, John W. — Pres. council, '38, mayor, "41, postmaster, '72 to '73 ; 

died Oct. 5, '87. 
Allen, David— Council, 2 w., '40. 
Allen, Wm. F.--Council, 3w., '44. 
Allen, J. S.— J. P., '61 to '63. 
Allen, Jackson— Bd. ed. '84 to '86 ; '86 to '89 ; b. '57 ; came to C. in '73; 

mechanical engineer. 
Andrews, Benjamin — Council, 2 w., '38. 
Andrews, Sherlock J. — See biog. sketch. 
Andrews, W. G. — Born in Cleveland '51 ; council, 1 w. '85 to '88 ; flour 

and feed. 
Anthony', Philip— B. '34; came to C. '58; patrolman, '70; roundsman, 

'72 ; acting sergeant, '74 ; full sergeant, '75 ; lieut. '76, and still holds 

this position. Sergeant-at-arms in common council. 
Angel, Geo.— Council, 7 w., '68 to '73 ; police bd., '74 to '75. 
Angell, Edward— Council, 7 w.,. '73 to '78 , fire bd., '76 to '78. 
Andrev.s, W. W.— Bd. ed., 7 \v., '63. 
Anderson, Alfred T.— Came to C. in '75 ; recorder, '85 to '88 ; bd. ed. '84 

to '86. 
Anderson, George — Health bd., '81 to '83. 

Andrus, J. H. — Council, '83; House of Correction, '85 to '87. Retired. 
Anthon3', A. — Council, 9 w., '61 to '62. 
Anthony, Ambrose— Impr. bd., '57. 
Armstrong, W. W.— B. '33; came to C. in '65; Secretary of State, '62 

to '65; bd. election, '85- editor Plain Dealer, '65 to 'S3, appointed 

postmaster '87 ; still holds office. 
Armstrong, Dr. ]. P.— Health bd., '71 to '73; bd. ed., 11 w., '71, '72, 

'73; health bd., '80 to '83. 
Armstrong, A. C— Health bd., '70 to '71. 
Arnold, George— J. P., '69. 
Ashmun, George C, M. D.—B. '41; came to C. in '71 ; health bd. '80; 

health officer since '81. 
Athey, Jay L.— B. '55; came to C. in '78; council, '82 to '87; president 

of council in '83, bd, impr., '84; city auditor in '87, and still holds 

this oflice. 
Axworthy, Thos.^HeaTth bd. '75; city treasurer since 1883. 
Axtell, A.'A.— Council,. 15 w., '75, '76, '79,. '80; bd. impr., '76. 

B. 

Baily, L. W.— B. '40; came to C. in '45; clerk bd. of workhouse, dir., 
'70 to '72; secretary bd. health, '77 to '78; bd. cemetery trustees, 
'78, '83, '86 to present. 

Bailv, Kol)ert— Council, 1 w., '42, '43, council, 2 w., '52. 

Barber, G. M.— B.'23; came to C.in'65; council, '71, '72, '73; judge sup. 
ct. '73 to '85; com. pleas ct., '75 to '85, attorney at law, Wick blk. 



IV APPENDIX. 

Barber, Josiali— Judge c. p. ct., '36. 

Bartlett, J. P.— Inf. bd., '79 to '81. 

Bartlett, J. B. — City clerk '36, and for many years tbereafter. 

Barstow, F. O.— Bd. td.. 9 w., '78. 

Baldwin, Edvvard— Council, 2 w., '36 to '37; aid., '39. 

Baldwin, O. P.— City clerk '36, came from Vir., left C. in '45. 

Bander, Levi F.— B."'40; pub. Ub. bd., '79 to "84; county auditor '77 to 
'83; justice peace, 'S6 to '89. See Literature in C. 

Baxter, VVm.— Clk. police ct., '79 to '85; deputy sheriff, '85 to '87; b. 
'40; came to C. in '50. Stationery business. 

Barr, F. H. Dr.— Council, 14 w., '76 to '77. 

Backus, \Vm.— Council, 2 w., '83.- 

Baker, Robert— Inf. bd., '67 to '70; health bd., '69 to '74. 

Bayne, W. M.— B. '42; council, '73 to '88; was j)res. council, '75, '84, 
'87, '88 ; job printer. No. 10 South Water st. 

Barnitz, Col. Albert— B. '35; carre to C. in '58; served two yrs. in 
council. 

Barnett, Gen. James— E. '21 ; came to C. in '25: council '78; board of 
elections, '86; pres. First National Bank. 

Barnett, Melancton — Council 3 w., '44. 

Ballard, C. J.— Council, 6 w., '60 to 01. 

Beattie, W. B.— Ed bd., '£6. 

Becker, R. H.— Council, 10 w., '66 to '67. 

Benedict. Geo. A.— Pres. council '43, council 2 w., '43. See "Literature 
in Cleveland.'' 

Benedict, F. B.- County auditor, '76, '77. 

Benedict, L. D. — Council, 10 w., '71 to '74; clerk probate court. 

Bemis, Geo. A.— Ed. bd., 12 w., '77 to '78. 

Bemis, E. St. John— Council, 1 w., '44 to '46. 

Bernard, Charles B.- -First ajipraiser foreign merchandise "71, '73; bd. 
ed.; council; attorney; Mercantile blk. 

Bell, J. H.— Bd. ed., 5 w."! '66 to '71. 

Beavis, John— Bd. aid., '87; b. '36; came to C. in '71; plumbing busi- 
ness. 

Beardslev. Irad. L. — Council, 5 w\; '55. 

Beckwith, Dr. D. H.— Health bd., '86 to present; came to C. '66; phy- 
sician, 528 Prospect St. 

Blee, Hu-h— Health bd.. '70 to '76. 

Benton, H.— Ed. bd.. '56. 

Benton, J. J.— Council 1 w., '61 to '62 ; bd. impr. '63. 

Benham, G. H.— J. P. '67, and from '63 to '66. 

Beckman, Henry, jr.,— B. in C. '55; council, '82 to '84; merchant tailor, 
196 Superior St. 

Bennett, P. C— Council 10 w., '54. 

Beuhne, Frederick— Bd. ed. 11 w., '68. 

Buding, Edward— Bd. ed. 4 w., '68. 

Bishop, L. ]. P. B. '54; bd. ed. '82 to '84; attorney atlaw. 

Bishop. J. P.— Judge ct. com. pleas '58 to '62 ; bd. ed., '66 to '68 ; b. '15 
d. '81. See Literature in C 

Bishop, C. D.— Bd. impr. '63 to '64. 

Bill, H. N -Justice of peace, '67 to '71. 

Bissett, H. N.— Council. 10 w , '63. 

Bingham, F. W. — Pres. council, '45, "47, "48; mayor '49: inf. bd. ed. '66. 

Bittel, Jacob — Cam^e to C in '52; street commissioner, '69 to '75 and 
from '77 to '79. Is collector of canal tolls. 

Birney, U. H.— Police prosecutor, '77 to '78. 



APPENDIX. Y 

Black, Louis — B. '44; came to C. in '54: council in '84; fire comr., '85 to 
'89 ; cloak manfr., 72 to 76 Bank st. 

Black, Joseph— Inf. bd., '84 to '88; clothing manfr. 

Blair, Henry— Council, 2 w., '38; council, 4 w., '61 to '65. 

Blandin, E.J.— Ed. bd., 14 w., "72 to '73; water w'ks bd., '87; judge of 
court common pleas, '82 to '86. 

Blythe, Walter— W. bd., '74, '76. '82. 

Bliss, Stoughton— B. '23; council, 3 w., '51 to "52; was cit}' marshal 
some vears. Boards Kennard house. 

Bluin, Jacob— Inf. bd-, '76 to '83. 

Blee, Robert— B. '38; pol.comr., '75 to '79; is supt. C. C C & I. Ry. 

Blee, Hugh— Board of health continuously from '67 to '77; b. 1805; 
came to C in '37 ; died '83. 

Bolton, Thomas — Pres. council in '39 ; aid-, "41 ; cotmt}' pros., '39 to '40; 
judge common pleas ct., '56 to "66; born 1809; came to C. in '35; 
died '71. 

Bowler, N. P.— B. '20; came to C. in '39 ; O. V. F. D. '45; deputy col- 
lector Ohio canal '52 , trustee water works '80 to '83 ; present 
business, iron foundry. 

Bowley, H.— Council, 7 w., '79 to '80. 

Bock, C. P.- Bd. ed., 1 w., '83 ; coroner, '81 to '85. 

Bohm, Edward— B. '37; came to C. '51, bd. ed. '68 to '72; county 
recorder, '71 to '77; J. P., '79, '82, '85. 13 Pub. Sq. 

Bower, B. R. — Coinicil, 5 w., '64 to '65. 

Bowd, T. N.— Council, 2 w., '61 to '65. 

Bradburn, Charles — Pres. council, '55; council, 3 w., '40; board of edu- 
cation for many years. See Education in Cleveland. 

Bradner, J. H. — Council, '79 ; police comr., '80 ; reelected police comr., '84 
for 4 vrs; coal business, 183 Detroit St. 

Branch, f . P.— Coimcil, 13 w., '79 to '80. 

Brand, Fred. A.— Justice of peace, '67, J. P., '64, '65, '68 to '71. 

Breckenridge, L. — Sec. public library bd., '82 to '88; att'y. at law. 

Brennan, Luke — Came to C. in '52; bd. impr., '87 to '89. Business, con- 
tractor and builder. 

Brennan, John F. — Bd. ed., '85 to '88 Contractor and builder. 

Brinsmade, Allan T.— B. '37; came to C in '60; asst. city att'y., '64 to 
'68; city att'}-., '68 to '70, state senate, '71; council, '84; city so- 
licitor, '85 for 4 yrs. 

Briggs, Sam — B. '41 , came to C. in '65; board of education, '73 to '74; 
clerk bu. impr., '87 ; still holds position. 

Briggs, Geo.— Bd. ed., '56. 

Brovvnell, Abner C. — Mavor, '52 to '55, council, 1 w., '54. 

Brown, J. H.— J. P., '61 to '63. 

Bi'own, Wm. fl. — B. '39; came to C. in '82; elected cemetery' trustee in 
'86 for three ^-rs. and is trustee of board. 

Brock, E. A. — Council, 1 w., '55 to '56. 

Brooks, S. C. — House correction, '71 

Bruggeman, J. B. — Council, 15 w., '72 to '73. 

Buckley, Hugh- Sheriff, '81 to '83; firm Richards, McKean & Co. Res- 
taurant. 

Buhrer, Stephen — See biog. sketch. 

Burton, T. E. — Council, '86 to '87 ; attorney at law, Blackstone block. 

Bunts, Wm. C— B. '33, came to C. '67; city solicitor, '71; died '74. 

Burgess, Almon— J. P., '56. 

Burgess, C. H. — City surveyor, '76 and '77. 



VI APPENDIX. 

Burgess, L. P.— B. '23 ; director work-house ; wholesale grocer, 203 

Bank st. 
Butts, Boliver — Came to C in '4-0; council, '54 to '56; inf. dir., '63 to 

"71, and now holds that office. Retired. 
Burnside, Chas.— Council, '79, '81, '83, '86; bd. impr., '81 to '85; fire bd., 

'87, tannery. Canal st.; b. '26. 
Burr, John— Council, 1 w., '40. 
Burke, Anthonv — Bd. ed., 8 w., '76 to '77. 
Burlison, A. E.— Inf. bd., '64 to '70; health bd., '66 to '73. 
Burnett, C. C— Inf director, '82 to '84; Sturtevant Lumber Co. 
Buettner, Frank— B. '41 ; came to C. '51 , council, 14 w., '76 to '78 ; street 

comr., '73 to '75; elected again in '87, and still holds office. 
Burt, Henry C— B. '25; came to C. in '54, wholesale deakr grass seeds 

atid wool. 
Burt, G. H.— House of Correction, '62. 

Burt, H. H. -Council, '71 to '72; work-house bd., '73 to '74. 
Beck, Conrad— Supt. markets, '76 to '84, b. '45; came to C. at close of 

w^ar; provision business. 



Cadwell, Darius— B. '21; came to C. '72; council, '73; judge ct. com, 

pleas, '74 to '84. Att'y. at law. 
Cahoon, Thomas— Came to C. in '51 ; council, '82 to '84; pres. business, 

manfr. of furnaces. 
Calhoun, N. S.— B. '55 ; came to C. '82; bd. ed., '84 to '85. Att'y., 219 

Superior st. 
Calkins, Geo. W.— Council 6 w., '65 to '66 ; bd. impr., '66. Lime business, 
Calyer, James — Council, 2 w., '49. 
Canfield, Horace — Council, '36 and '37. 
Cant, Andrew — Council, 10 w., '77 to '78. 
Carr, Patrick— Council, 8 w., '68 to '69. 
Carr, Dominick — Council, 3 vv., '82 to '83. 
Carson, f. W.— B. '36; bd. ed., '71 ; tailor at Hull's store. 
Carson, Marshall — Council, 3 w., '46. 
Carpenter. S. M.— B. '17; came to C. in '52 ; elected to councir83 to '86; 

bd. impr.. '84. Prop'r Fulton Foundry and Iron Works. 
Case. Leonard— Council, 2 w., '38; council, 1 w., '41. See chapters 12 and 

21 and " E lucation in C." and " Literature in C." 
Case, William— Council, 2 w., '46; aid., '47 to '50; mayor, '50 to '51, 

See p. 226 and chapter 10. 
Carran, L. C— B. '46 ; council. '84-'86, 'S6'-88 ; oil refiner, 121 Superior st. 
Carran, Thomas J.— B. '41 ; came to C. in '64; city solicitor, '69 to '71; 

state senator, '79 to '81. Att'y., 211 Superior st. 
Castle, M. S. — Council, 4 w., '51 ; county prosecutor, '67, '68. 
Castle, Wm. B.— Mayor, '55, '56; pres. water-works bd., '66, '67. See 

page 226. 
Caul, Peter— Council, 1 w., '45. 
Caskey, Alex. C— B. '44; came to C. '62; council, '81 to '86; att'y, 219 

Superior st. 
Chapman, Geo. T.— Council, '73, '74; state legislature, house rep., '79, 

'80, '81 ; state senate, '81, '83; b. C. '37; att'y, Blackstone bl'k. 
Chariot, N. P.— Council, 13 w., '83. 
Chapin, Herman — Ma_vor, '64 to '68. 
Chamberlin, John F.— Council, 1 w., '46. 



APPENDIX. YII 

Chamberlin, Philo— Police bd., '66, '67. 

Chard, W. P.— B. '46 ; came to C. in '48 ; council, 5 w., '82, and from '79 
to '85 ; alderman, '85 to '87; bd.inipr., '85; fire comr., '86; witliL. S. 
& M. S. Rv. Co. 

Chepek, T. v.— Ed. bd.,12 w.,'84. 

Childs, Herrick— Council, 1 w., '38. 

Childs, Geo. L.— Ed. bd., 1 w., '73 to '83. 

Christian, James— Council, 1 w., '59, '60; inf. bd., '77, '81, '82. 

Church, James — Council, 1 w., '43. 

Clark, Jared H.— Council, 6 w., '59, '60. 

Clark, M. B.— Council, 4 w., '66, '67, '68; bd. impr., '67, '68. 

Clark, C. B.— Council, 10 w., '78, '79. 

Clark, H. T.— Bd. ed., 3 w., '63. 

Clarv, Stephen— Council, 3 w., '40; c, 2w., '43; aid., '44. 

Clvne, J. G.— B. '49; bd. ed., '85, '86; physician, 383 Pearl st. 

Cliiford, John J.— Council, '86, '88 ; b. in '59 ; came to C. in '64. 

Claassen, E. — H. bd., '75. 

Clewell, T. G.— Council, '79 to '81 ; editor Evangelical Messenger, 16 yrs. ; 
real estate business ; b. '29 ; came to C. in '57. 

Cleveland, J. D.— City clerk, '46, '47; elk. ct. com. pleas., '52 to '55; 
police judge, '69 and '70; came to C. '35 ; att'y at law. 

Cleveland, H. G.— Council, 2 vv., '68, '69. 

Cleveland, Thomas, M. D.,— H. bd., '73. 

Cozad, Marcus— Ed. bd., 16 w.. '76. 

Corlett, T. A.— Ed. bd., 3 w., '79, '80; health bd., '83. '84. 

Cotterell, Mathew — Council, 5w., '54. 

Connellv, James — Council, '85, '86; sev^^er builder. 

Coates,"C. W.— Council, 15 w., '69, '70; J. P., '83, '84, '85, '86; att'y. 

Coates, Chas.— Council, 3 vv., '69, '70. 

Costello, Edward— Council, 8 w., '70 to '74; inf. bd., '75 to '78. 

Coe, L. M.— Council, 9 w., '69 to '73. 

Cobleigh, N. S. — B. '45; came to C.in'53; council, '75 to '77; citv editor 
Plain Dealer since 1869. 

Cordes, R. M.— Clerk police ct., '85 to '88. 

Colhan, Thomas— Council, 3 w., '37, '38. 

Corning, Solon — Council, 8 w., '61, '62. 

Coonev, P. J. — Aid., '87 ; with Eclipse Wringer Co., 109 Wood st. 

Collins, Major- Council, 13 w., '68. 

Cowley, E.— Council, 8w., '79 '80, '83; aid., 7 dist., '85, '86; coal busi- 
ness. 

Coffinberry, Jas. M.— See Biog. sketch. 

Coffinberry, Henry— Fire board, '74, '75. 

Cook, Albert J. — Bd. health, '82 to '85; reelected '86; physician and sur- 
geon ; b. '50 ; came to C. in '70. 

Cook, Samuel — Council, 2 w., '37; aid., '43. 

Coffin, Thomas — House correction bd., '71. 

Coonrad, J.— Council, 11 vv., '60 to '64; bd. imp., '66 to '69. 

Covin, Philo— Council, 3 w., '41. 

Crittenden, Newton E. — Aid., '41. 

Craw, W. V. — Councilman, '36. 

Crawford, Randall— Council, 3w., '58, '59, '65, '66. 

Craig, Wm. E. — B. '55; appointed sec'y bd. health, '85; is still sec'y. 

Cramer, Alex. — Council, 3 w.. '43, '47. 

Crowl, W..H.— Board health, '71 to '73; b. Troy, N. Y. ; came to C. '44; 
pig iron, 121 Superior st. 



VIII APPENDIX. 

Crable, John— Came to C. in '32; council, '55, '56; bd. ed., '60, '61; fire 
ins. business. 

Crapser, M. — Council, 10 w., '64, inf. bd., '64. 

Crumb, Chas. A.— Council, 10 w., '55 to '58; 7 w., '86, '87. 

Cross, David W. — B. in '14; came to C. in '36; deputy col. and inspector 
of customs of dist. of Cuyahoga and port of C. for 18 years; town- 
ship clerk, 2 3'rs. , council, '49; pres. C. Steam Gauge Co., 121 Su- 
perior St. 

CrehorcJ. D.— Health bd., '80, '81. 

Crowl, S. H.— B. '20; came to C '44; council, 10 w., '71, '72; died '79. 

Cunningham, P. — Bd. ed., 3 w., '75. 

Cushing, W. W.— Bd. ed., 8 w., '63. 

Curtiss, J. M. — See biog. sketch. 

D. 

Dare, W. B.— Water-works bd., '67. 

Davis, John J.— Bd. ed., 14 w.. '73. Davis & Hunt, 147 Ontario. 
Davis, J. P.— Council, '84 to '86 ; b 1819 ; came to C. in '57 ; grocer. 
Dawley, J. P. — ^Came to C. in '71 ; bd. ed., '83 to '85 ; attorney' at law. 

Foran & Dawlev. 
Daly, Michael— Council, '86 to '88; miller. 
Davidson, James— Inf bd., '75. 
Darragh, John— Council, '78 to '79 and '85. 
Dangler, D. A. — See Biog. sketch. 
Dalton, F.— Bd. ed., 12 w., '68 to '72. 
Dugan, Wm.— Bd. ed., 8 w., '64 to '72. 
Daykin, A. G. — B. '57; came to C. in '59; bd. health since '85; plumbing 

business. 
Dahler, Michael— Came to C. in '42; council, '86 to '88. 
De Celle, M. I.— Council, '80 to '82; supt. st. work, engineer dept. ; b. 

'45: came to C. '67. 
De Wolf, Geo. — Inspector steam vessels since '86; came to Ohio in '37; 

came to C. in '61. 
Dewstoe, C. C— Came to C. in '66; bd. health, '81 to '87; sheriff, '84 to 

'86. Plumbing Inisiness. 
De Forest, C. H. — C<nmcil, 2 w., '75 to '76; Society for Savings Bank. 
De Wolf, Homer B. — B. '37; city pros., '63 to '64; county pros., '72. 

Att'y., Blackstonc bld'g. 
Devine, Arthur— Council, 7 w., '75 to '84; harbor master, '84. Died, 

1884. 
Dennis, R. B.— Citv att'v, '66 to '67. 
De War, John C— Bd. ed., '74, '77, '84. 
Delang, C— Council, 13 w., '72 to '73. 
Denison, C. W. — Council, 10 w., '81. 
Delmer, Charles— Council. 5 w., '58 to '59. 
Decker, E.— B. '33; came to C. 57; council, '78 to '82. Photographer, 

Decker & Wilbur. 
Dixon, W. B.— B. '37; bd. ed., '74 to '75; pattern-maker. 
Dixon, Thomas— Council, 11 w., '59 to '63. 
Diemer, Peter — Council, 2 w., '67 to '71. 
Dickinson, James W . — B. '36; came to C. in '51; commenced in fire 

dept. and has held every position in dept.; appointed ch'f in '80, 

and still holds this position. 
Dixon, Harrv— Cl'k bd. ed., '85 to '88; b. in C. '57. 



APPENDIX. IX 



Dockstader, Nicholas— Pres. council, '38; mayor, '40; aid., '36 to '39; 

See p. 226. 
Dodge, George, ]r.,— Bd. ed., 5 w.. '72 to '75. 
Drake, S. P.— B. '18; came to C. in '32; capt. of viaduct, '79; supt. 

Woodland cemeter_v in '79, for four years, is ass't. supt. Woodland 

cemetery. 
Dunham, Truman— Water-Works bd., '77 to '81. Died, '85 or '86. 



Eckman, W. H.— City clerk, '76 to '83; sec'y board park comrs., '77 to 

'84, and '86 to '87 . b '41 ; came to C in '53. 
Edwards, Wm —Came to C. from Springfield, Mass., '52, has been 

connected with various public trusts for many years. W.m. Edwards 

& Co., 137 Water St. 
Eells, D. p.— Bd. ed., 2 w., '66; pres. Commercial National Bank. 
Eggers, Fred.— Council, 14 w., '74, '75, '77, '79, '83, state senate, '85 

to '86. 13 Public Square. 
Elmer, Nicholas — Inf bd , '71 to '76. 
Ensign, J. A. — Council, 15 w., '68. 
Erwin, John — Council, 2 w., '47; bd. inipr., '56. 
Esch, Dr John A.— Police surgeon, '84 to '87; b. Germany, '23; came 

to C. '66; physician. 
Everett, S- T. — See biog. sketch. 
Evarts, Charles O.— B. '47; came to C. in "66; city sealer 2 yrs.-, elk. 

health bd., '84; city elk., '85 to '87. Is cashier Woodland Ave. 

Savings Bank. 
Everett, Charles D. — Pres. council, '77 to '78; council, 17 w., '73 to '79; 

b. '37; came to C. in '50; attv. at law, 236 Sujjerior si. 
Everett, Henrv— Council 1 w., '47 to '49; 4 w., '53 to '54; sec and 

treas. E. C. R. R Co. 
Ewald, Daniel — B. '38; bd. ed., 15 dist. '85; is proof reader for Evan- 



gelical association. 



F. 



Farrand, W. H.— Sec. health bd., '74. 

Farley, John H. — See biog. sketch. 

Faulhaber, F. V.— Council, '86 to '87; marble works, 150 Scott st. 

Fenton, A. Ward— B. '39; came to C. in '65, bd. ed., from '79 to '87, is 
chf. elk. in custom-house. 

Felton, Elias R.— B. '28; came to C. in '54; bd. ed., '70 to '72; council, 
29 w., '86 to '87; is principal of Spencerian Business College. 

Fetzer, John— Council 21 w., '85; aid. in '87; firm of J. M. Weitz & Co., 
129 Water st. 

Ferris, James M.— Bd. ed., 9 w , '72 to '76. Res. Toledo, O. 

Ferbert, J. C— Council, 9 w., '80 to 'S3. 

Fitzgerald, J. R.— J. P., '63 to '64. 

Fila, Frank— Council, '24 w., '86 to '87. 

Fitch, Jabez W.— B. '23; came to C. in '26; U. S. marshal for northern 
dist. of O.; lieut. goy. with Gov. Bishop; trustee northern Ohio in- 
sane asylum. 

Fisher, T N.— Came to C. in '65 ; bd. ed., '85 to '86. Bottling works. 



X APPENDIX. 

Flynn, James— Council, '85, '86, '87, '88; b. N. Y. '52; came to C. in 

'70, furniture dlr. and undertaker; 739 St. Clair st. 
Fleidner, Chas.— Council, 14 vv., '83; with Block-vein Coal Co., 110 

Canal st. 
Floyd, T. C— Council. 2 w., '48 and '51. 
Flint, Edward S.— Mayor '61; bd. impr., '63; 302 Perry st. See p.. 

226. 
Forsyth, P.— B. '44; Came to C. '78; council, 3 w., 85; aid., '87;. 

foreman The Press. 
Foljambe, Samuel— J. P., 1861; agent Lemen block, cor. Superior st. 

and Pub. Sc]. 
Fowle, H. H— Water works bd., "65. 
Foran, M. A. — Member state constitutional convention, '73, police 

pros., '75 to '77; U. S. congress, 21 O. dist., '82 to '84, '84 to '86, 

'86 to '88 ; came to C. '66. 
Force, C. G.— City civil engineer from April, '84, to May, '87, principal 

assistant city engineer, '72 to '79; a.ssistant city eng., '67 to '71 ; b. 

New Jersey, '41; came to C. '67. Consulting civil engineer, Forest 

City House. 
Ford, Horatio C— B. '25; came to C. in '41; council, '74 to '76. Died 

•76. 
Ford, H. Clark— B. '53 ; council, '80 to '86 ; att'y at law. 
Ford, Henrv — B. '26; came to C. in '41 ; councd, '76; city auditor, '78 

to '87. ' 
Foote, Judge Horace— B. 1799; came to C. '36; judge ct. com. pleas- 

for manv vears, beginning '67 ; died '84. 
Foote, John A.— B. 1803; came to C '33; pres council, '39 to '40; 

state legislature, '37 to '38; state senate '54 to '55; village recorder,. 

'34. Retired. 
Friend, F. C— B. '62; council, 22 w., "85 to '86; 16 w., '87; att'y at 

law. 
Freeze, P. M.— Council, 7 w., '61. '62. 

Frese, C. — B. '34; came to C in '56; cemeter\' trustee, '64 to '67. 
Friend.John— Bd.ed., '63. 
Frazer, J. B. — County surveyor in '81. 
Frazee, John — Sheriff, '68 to '7 3 ; deputy sheriff. '56 to '59 ; city marshal,. 

'63 to '65; deputy, '60 to '61: captain of police, '66, '68; deputy 

col. customs; came to C. in '51. Laundry and carpet beating. 80* 

Delaware st. 
Fuller, Horace— Council, 7w., '69, '70. 

Fuller, S. A.— Aid. 3 dist., '85 to '86; manager of Union Rolling Mill Co- 
Fuller, Simeon— Judge com. pleas ct. in '36. 



Gaylord, W. H. — Council, '71 to '75; vice-pres., '72 and '73; bd. inipr., 
'73 ; came to C. '42. 

Gallagher, O. J.— Council, 8 w., '74, '75; grocer. 

Gabriel. W. H.— Police comr., '80 to "84; b. '42; came to C '54; car- 
riage manfr. 

Garry, John — Sec. inf. bd., '74, '75; supt. letter carriers, app'd. '87; b. 
'42; came to C '65. 

Gary. M. B.— B. '31; came to C '73; council, '74, '76; att'y. 243 Su- 
perior St. 

Gardner, Geo. W. — See biog. sketch. 



APFENIMX- 



xr 



Gaylord, Philip— Council, 13 w., '82, '83. 64 Jennings ave. 

Gardner, James— Council, 2 w., '45, '53, '54; bd. ed., '56. 

Gertv, Geo. W.— Water w'ks. bd., '57 to '64. 

Gehring, C. E.— B. '29; council, 11 w., '67, '68; brewer. 

Given, John — Impr. bd., '84. 

Gilbert, N. A.— B. '46; came to C. '71; in council, 6 w., '77 to '81 r 

att'y, 243 Superior st. 
Given, Wm. — Council, 1 w., '50. 

Gill, John— Pres. council, 1 w., '46,-'48 ; aid., '49,-'51 ; inf. bd., '77-'79. 
Giddings, Chas. M.— Council 2 w., '39. 

Gill, Geo. W.— Council, '85. '86; b. '48; came to C. in '58; grocer. 
Gleason, Wm. J.— B. '46; came to C. '48; sec. library bd., '84. '86; bd. 

equalization, '85, '89; present sec'y. bd. of election; state del. of 

Ohio, of Ohio Irish Am. League, and member of National executive- 
committee. 
Glazier, N. P.— Council, 14 w., '72, '73. 149 Osborn st. 
Glenn, J. B.— Council, 6 w., '79, '80. 
Gloyd, George — Fire bd., '78 to '81 ; contractor. 
Gleason, Isaac L. — B. '25; came to C.in '74; justice of peace from '82 to 

'85; is att'y at law. 
Gordon, Charles — Bd. ed., 3 w.,'81 to '84; lamp and brass business. 

Res. 47 Water street. 
Gordon, W. J. — See biog. sketch. 
Gorham.John- Akl. '46. 
Goldrick— Council, 1 w., '63, '64. 
Goodwin, W. P.- Council, 3 w., '42, "43; aid., '44. 
Goodhart, Joseph — B. in Cleveland in '45; bd. ed., '86 to '89; wholesale 

clothier. 68 to 72 St. Clair st. 
Griswold, S. O. — Council, 2 w., '85; judge c. \). ct., att'v, Blackstone 

block. 
Grav, J. W. — Postmaster, '57. See " Literature in Cleveland." 
Green, R. C— Bd. ed., 23 w., '84. 

Grimshaw, J. W. — B. '25; council, '72, 8 vrs.; pump business. 
Gross, M. A.— B. '40; council, 11 w., '79 to '85; fire comr., '83 to '87; is 

passenger con. C. C. C. & I. R3'. 
Green, Arnold — Council, 5 w., '81 to '84.; att'y at law, Blackstone. 
Grav, Admiral N. — Council, 4 w., '52. 
Greckley, E. C— Council, 12 w., '68-'70, '75-'76. 
Grannis, John C. — Collector customs, '67, '72, '73; bd. ed., '79. 
Gruazenhauser, Ferdinand— B. '48; ed. bd., '85-86, '86-88; manf'r. 

jewelrv, 208 Superior st. 
Groot, Geo. A.— B. '43; came to C, '70, bd. ed., '76-78; att'y. 
Grofif, Henrv R.— B. "27; came to C, '54; appointed on hospital com., 

'86 for 5 vrs. Childs, Groff & Co., 80-84 Bank st. 
Gilbert, J. A".— Council, 11 w., '82; bd. ed., '86-88; ph.vsician, 392 

Pearl st. 



H. 



Halpin. Edward— Health bd.. '70. 
Hannon, Dr. Thomas — Heabh bd., 
Hanna, M. A.— Bd. ed., 9 w., '69, 

Arcade block. 
Harvcv, Henrv — Ed. bd., 7 w., '61. 
Hartnell, John— Bd. ed., 11 w , '63, 



70. 
'70, 



71 ; M. A. Hanna & Co., coal. 



XII APPENDIX. 

Hackman, Joseph — Council, 6 w., '74-, '75; carpenter, 71 Marion st. 

Haltnorth, F. C— Council, 12 w.. '72. '73. 

Harrison, Wm. — Council, 14 w., '<S0, 'SI. 

Havward, W. H.— Council, 2 w., '.^^9, '60 ; fire 1x1., '74 ; inipr. 1h1 '79, 'SO. 
'Res. 729 Prospect. 

Hall, Alfred— Council, 1 w., '37: aid.. •3S. 

Hale, John C— B. '31 , came to C. in'57; 1)d. ed., 'S4.; att'v, Rlackstone 
bld'j;. 

Hart, Wm. — Came to C. in '25 , city tr 19 yrs. previous to Everett. 

Hart, Edwin — B. '35; came to C. in '35; chf. fire dept., '61, '63; council, 
'67 , fire comr., '75 ; water wks. bd , is insjiector of customs. 

Harlow, Robert — B. "15; came toC. in '32; first recorder of E. C. village; 
mem. of council ; died '79. 

Halliwell, A. B.— B. '24; came to C. in "52; cemetery trustee, '65, '68; 
council, 5 w., '80, '82, dist. assessor, '80; ]K)lice com. 4 yrs., to '87; 
dentist and M. D. 

Handy, T. P.— See biog. sketch. 

Hansheer, Louis — Police board. '76 to '80. 

Hatfield, F R.— Council, 7 w., '85. 

Hart, Dr. A. C— B. '21, bd. ed., '68, -'74, bd. health, '80; physician, 37 
Jennin2;s ave. 

Hartnell, G. S.— B. '11 , bd. ed., 11 w.. '56. '64; contractor. 

Hayward, Nelson — Mayor, '43 ; council, 1 w., '41 ; aid., '42. Seep. 226. 

Harrington, Benjamin— Pres. council, 3 w..'41, '42; aid., '38. 

Harris, Josia A. — Mayor, '47; aid., '40, '46. See "Literature in Cleve- 
lanci." 

Hawkins, H. C— "V\^ater wk's bd., '66, '67, '68 ; is asst. supt. water wk's. 

Hamilton, E. T.— -Judge c. p. ct., '76 to '87; council, 18 w.. '74; w. w'ks 
bd.. '87 to '89. 

Havs, Kaufman— B. '37; came to C. in '52; council, 11 w., '86 to '88; 
'res., 299 Woodland. 

Hamilton, A. J.— Council, "82, '85; b. Newburg, '33. Retired. 

Hartzell.J. S.— Fire bd., '84 to '88; b. '37; came to C. in '46. Livery 
business. 

Hester, Geo.— B. '31 ; justice of peace, "64, -"70; att"v at law. 

Herrick, E. P.-Bd. ed., 14 w., '68. 

Hemmeter, ]. C— Council, 13 w., '74, '75; grocer, 125 River st. 

Heard, Chas. W.— Aid., '45; bd. ed., 1 w., "69, "70, "71. 

Hersch, David — Council, 1 w., '40. 

Hepburn, Morris— Council, 1 w., '36. 

Henderson, Setli S.— Sheriff, '36. 

Herrick, R. R.— See biog. sketch. 

Heckman, Lewis— B. "23; came to C. in '47; council, '59. '60; died, '72. 

Hesslcr, E. M.— Bd. ed., '76 to '80 ; library board, '80 to 82 ; b. in N. Y., 
'43; came to C. in '64; surgical instruments, 68 Fulj. Sc]. 

Herrick, Mvron T. — B. '54, Huntington, Lorain co., educated at Dela- 
ware, d.; came to C. in '75 ; admitted to bar in '78 ; served tAvo terms 
in council ; is sec. and treas. societv for savings, elected as such in '86. 

Herrman, Chas.— B. '48; aid. 8 dist., '85,-87; impr. bd., '86, '87; 
grocery, Herrman & McLean, 619-620 Pearl st. 

Heislev, John W.— Present judge ct. com. pleas. 

Hciskv.'Wm.— Council, 5 w., '66, '67 ; city solicitor, '76, '77. 

Hessenmueller, Edward— B. '11, in Wolfenbuettel, Braunschweig, Ger- 
many; came to Cuyahoga county in '36; justice of the peace 5 con- 
secutive terms, from '43 ; police judge two terms, from '65; pension 
ag't and U.S. comr. for northern Ohio, under Pres. Buchanan; edited 



APPENDIX. Xm 

and published first German paper — The Ger mania — in northern 

Ohio, about '47 ; died in C. in '84. 
Heislev, F. M.— Police bd., '70. 

Higgins, Peter— Inf. bd., '74, '75, '76, '82; insurance agt., 546 Hamil- 
ton st. 
Hickox, G. G.— Council, 18 w., '76 to '77. 
Hickox, Chas.— Council, 2 w., '47; Cleveland Milling Co., 113 Merwin 

St. 
Hitz, J. L.— Council, '83 to '85 ; b. in '38 ; came to C. in '53 ; grocer, 

2575 Broad wav. 
Hillard, Richard-Aid., '36 to '39. 

Hinsdale, B. A.— Supt. schools, '81 to '86; 711 Dunham ave. 
Hitchins, Edmund — B. '52; came to C. in '71; justice peace, '86 to '89; 

attorney, 21 Wick blk. 
Higgins, Chas.— Council, 11 w., '72 to '76. 
Hill, C. E— Citv clerk, '66. 

Hipp, Martin— B. '30; council 11 w., '75 to '77. 

Hill, H. E. — B. '40 ; park comr., '85 ; dealer in hides, sheep-skins, etc 
Holmden, Thos.— Council, 12 vv., '76 to '77. 
Hoffman, Henrv— Council, 12 w., '74 to '81. 
Holly, M. J.— Council, 14 w., '71. 
Hornsey, John— Council 12 w., '71 to '75. 

Hodge,'0. J.— Council 4 w., '71 to '77 ; '85 to '86 ; Sunday Sun office. 
Horton, Dr. W. P. — Council, from 6 w., continuously from '69 to '77; 

B. Yt. '23 ; came to C. '52 ; dentist, 177 Euclid ave. 
Houstain, Joseph — Council, 8 w., '67 to '68. 
Hoehn, J. I.— Council, 7 w., '81 to '82. 
Hovev, Jacob — Council, 5 w., '59 to '60. 
Hopkinson, A. G.— Bd. ed., '78 to '80; council, '58 to '61; supt. Ohio 

Cit}' schools '54; principal west high school, '55 to '70; on bd. 

school examiners, '77 to present; b. '25; came to C. in '52; Sre 

insurance, Brainard block . 
Howe, Geo. W.— Custom collector, '77-86; police board, '76-78. 
Holden, R. T.— B. '46; came to C. '50; council, '85-'88; paint and oii 

business, '53 Frankfort. 
Hobart, M. M.— Born '46; came to C '75; city pros, att'y, '78, '79; 

elk. bd. impr. '80, '81; att'v, 19 Blackstone bld'g. 
Holden, J. J.— J. P. '56. 

Holmden, E. J.— Council, 38 iv., '86, '87; White S. M. Co. 
Hoadley, George — Mayor, '46; see p. 226. 
Hoyt, Jas. M. — Bd. impr. ; '73 ; real estate, 36 Pub. Square. 
Howe, Henry— Council, 4 w., '52; 256 Detroit st. 
Hofrichter, Jas. — B. '50; council, '84-'86; Galvanized Iron Works. 
Honecker, Abe — B. '52; ed. bd., '84-'86; druggist, cor. Pearl street and 

Clark avenue. 
Howlett, Geo.— B. '25; came to C. in '32; bd. ed. '70-76; sign painter, 

21 Pub. Square. 
Hoppensaclc, H. F. — Council, '79-'81; gardener; b. '21; came to C. in 

'46. 
Hunt, E. P.— Bd. ed., '69, '70. 
Hughes, Hazen — Council, 1 w., '74, '75. 
Hughes, Arthur — Council, '42, '49, '50; state legislature, 2 terms; came 

to C. '39; Willson & Hughes Stone Co. 
Hutchins, J. C— B. '40; came to C. 68; bd. ed., '72; pros, att'y., '77; 

police judge, '83 to '87; att'y., 34 Blackstone bld'g. 
Hubbell, Z. M.— B. '43; came to C. '61; bd. ed., '86; sec. J. 8. Perkins.. 



XIV APPENDIX. 

Huntington, John— B. '32; came to C. 54; council for 12 years, '62 to 
'74; is pres. of Ashland and Newburg Transportation Co. 

Hunt, H. C— Council, 31 w., '86, '87. 

Hutchinson, H. H.— Council, 34 w., '86, '87- 

Humiston,W. H.— Bd. health, '81; physician, 201 Jennings ave. 

Husman, D. C— Ed. bd., '86; physician, 546 Detroit st. 

Hudson, L. D.— B. 1819; bd. ed.,' '82-88 ; physician. 

Hubby, Leander M.— Aid., '44, '46, '50, '51, '52; council, 2 w., '48; 
pres. council, '46 and '52; water-wks. bd., '63, '64. Retired. 

Hunt, Reuben G.— Pres. council, '57; council, 8 w., '56, '57. 

Humphrey, Van R.— Judge com. pleas ct., '36. 

Hurlbut, John E.— U. S. assessor, '67. 

Hyde, G. A.— Bd. impr., '56, '57 ; is engineer C. Gas Co. 

Hyman, H. H.— Council, 3 w., '82; is clerk international rev. office. 

Herron, James— B., '42; came to C. 61; council, '83-'86. In flour and 
feed business. 

Hyman, W. H.— Council, '84 to '86; b. '51; came to C. in '52; is in in- 
ternal revenue office. 



Tngersoll, L- C— Bd. ed., '56. 

Ingram, John— Council, 31 w., '86 and '87; b. England, '36; came to 

C. in '53; building mover and contractor, 119 Root street; has 

resided on Root st. (formerly Forest st.) since '53. 
Ives, Sam. — Council 1 w., '45. 



J. 



Jewett, C. P.— Co. com., '80 to '83; b. in C, '27; is vice-pres. South C. 
bank. 

Jenkins, Wm.— B. '41; council, 17 w., '80, '81; pork packer. 

lewett, A. A.— Council, 14 w., '69 to '73. 

Johnson, A. L.— Aid., '65, '67. 

Johnston, J. H.— Fire comr., '63 to '67. 

Johnson, P. L.— Council, 3 w., '75, '76. 

Johnson, S. W.— Council, 8 w., '55, '56. 

Johnson, Levi— Council, 3 w., '42 to '50-'58: b. 1785; came to C. in 
1809; died '71. 

Johnson, L.— Council, '76-'77 ; b. in C, '23. Retired. 

'jokus, John— Council, 14 w., '68. 

Jones, j. M.— County pros., '68 and '69; judge ct. common pleas, '81 to 
'86; att'v., Blackstone bld'g. 

lones, Thonuis— Pres. council, '63, '64, '65; bd. ed., '61-63; col. in. rev., 

'67, '68; citv and., "72 to '78; postmaster, '78-'86. 
Jones, |. D.— Bd. ed.,'74 to '82; mem. school dist. No. 6, before New- 
burg was annexed ; physician and surgeon ; b. '37 ; came to C '66. 

Tones, Wm.— Council, '77 to '79; justice peace, '81 to '84; dept. police 
elk., '84; b.' 36; came to C '57. 

Judson, George— Hd. ed., 15 w., '67, 68, '69. 



APPENDIX. XV 

K. 

Kain, Geo. S.— Cit] solicitor, '74 to '75. 

Kanfholz, F. G.— B. '37; council, 12 w., '76 to '78; fire bd. '79 to '81. 

Karda. Frank— Assist, police elk, '75 to '79; council, '81 to '83; b. '47; 

came to C. in '55 ; dry goods business. 
Karr, Wm.— Inf. bd., '75; with White S. M. Co. 
Kegg, Robert— Aid., '87; florist. West Cleveland. 
Keating, A. C— Council, 3 w., '61 to '65. 

Kellogg, H. S. — B. '49; council, 17 w.; pork packing business. 
Kelsey Lorenzo A. — B. 1803 ; came to Cleveland in 1837 ; mayor in 1S4S; 

was deputy postmaster; is with C. & P. R. R. 
Kearv, Joseph— Council, 5 w., '76 to '77. 
Kessfer, P. L.— P. bd., '71 to '77. 
Kelly, Moses — Council, 2 w., '41. See biog. sketch. 
Kelley, Wm.— Coimcil, 8 w., '73 to '77. 

Kellv, F. H.— Council, 16 w., '73 to '74; judge police ct., '87. 
Kellev, T. M.— Council, 2 w., '40. 
KelleV E. H.— Health bd., '75. 
Kitchen, Dr. H. W.— County elk., '81; health bd., '73, '74, '80, '81, '82; 

present county clerk. 
Kiefer, Ed. H.— Iiif. bd., '83. 
Kteffer, Geo.— B. '43; came to C. '48; inf. bd. 2 terms; druggist, 620 

Lorain st. 
Kist, John — Council, 3 w., '83. 
Kirk, Geo.— City Marshal, '36; council, 3 w., '42. 
Kirkpatrick, John— Inf. bd., '66 to '67; council, 11 w., '56to '57. 
King, Wm. H.— B. '47; came to C. in '50; council, '81 to'84; fire bd.. 

'82 to '84 ; bd. equalization '85 to '88 ; fire insurance business, 197 

Superior st. 
King, Tom— Sec. police bd., resigned 1887. 
Kline, Virgil P.— Bd. ed., '83 to '85; came to C. in '67; lawyer, 219 Su 

perior st. 
Knight, T. S— Aid., '87. 

Koch, G. D. — B. '50; bd.ed., '83 to '84; furniture business, Lorain st- 
Kolbe, Geo. A.— Justice of peace, '67; ed. bd., '65 to '70. 
Kushman, C — Council, '74 to '76; came to C. in '51 ; fresco and interioi 

decorator. 

L. 

Lamprecht, Wm. H.— Came to C. in '74; council, 18 w., '79 to '80; 

banker, 137 Superior st. 
Lamson, Benjamin — Covinty recorder, '67 to '68. 
Lacv, Alanson — Council, 2 w., '43. 
Lawler, D. J.— Council, 8 w., '76, '77, '80, '81. 
Larnder, Robert — Council, 11 w^., '66 to '67. 
Lavelle, John— Ed. bd., 8 w., '82 to '83. 
Lauer, Edward T. — B. '58; came to C in '75; council, 15 w., '85; is 

with Evangelical Pub. Co. 
Lawrence, James — Att'y-gen. of Ohio. '84 to '85 ; now pres. of bd. aid. , 

b. '51; came to C. '74; lawyer, Blackstone bld'g. 
Lamson, I. P.— Council, 13 w., '77 to '78; b. '32; came to C in '69; 

Lamson, Sessions & Co., nut and bolt works. 



XYI APPENDIX. 

Leutkemeyer, H. E.— B. '30; came to C in '49; council, '70-72; fire 

comr., '74; hardware business. 
Lemon, Tom— Council. 3 w., '38 to '39; aid., '40. 
Lewis, Sanford J. — Council, 9 w., '56. 

Lewis, E. H.— Council, 9 w., '59, '60; inf. bd. '61 to '63. 
Leonard, Wm. — Council, 3 w., '75. 
Leonard, Frank; Council, 9 w., '77 to '81. 
Lester, S. P.— Water-wks. bd., '61 to '63. 
Leiblein, G. W.— Bd. ed.. 11 w., '76. 

Leggett, M. D.— Bd. ed., 4 w., '80, '81 ; patent att'y, Masonic Temple. 
Lewis, W. E.— Clerk bd. impr., '85 to '87; Kansas City. 
Lewis, A. H.— Police pros., '81, '82; Kansas City. 

Lehr, Fred.— B. '45; council, 35 w., '86 to '88; gun dealer, 656 Lorain st. 
Lied, B.— Council, 15 w., '68 to '69. 
Lowman, Jacob — Coimcil, 2 w., '44. 
Loyd, T. C— Inf. bd., '56. 
Lockwood, C. B. — B. '29 ; came to C in '67 ; council, '74, '75 ; tax com. ; 

state leg. '63 to '67; hardware, 110 Water st. 
Luce, G. L.— Council, 10 w., '79, '80. 
Ludwig. W. P.- Council, 7 w., '83. 
Lucton, Wm. H.— Council, '78 to '80; w. works bd., '80 to '87; b. '24; 

came to C. in '68 ; retired. 
Lynch. Frank— County treas., '72, '73; bd. impr., '81, '82; retired. 
Lyon, Lyakim — Council, 3 w., '46. 
Lynch, Peter — Harbor master, '87. 

M. 

Mather, S. H.— B. '13; came to C in '35; admitted to the bar '36; bd. 
CO. school examiners, '40 to '42; city bd. ed., '40, '42, '53, '57; 
treas. Society for Savings, '51 to '84, and pres. same, '84. 

Malloy, M. C— Council, 28 w., '86 to '87. 

Marseilles, P. W.— H. bd., '56; was city physician. 

MacMath, Jesse H. — B. in Harrison co. O., in '33; consul-general of the 
United States accredited to the emperor of Morocco, '62 to '70 ; 
comr. of the United States to negotiate a treaty with Great Britain, 
Prance, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands, 
Sweden, and Morocco, '65; judge of the ct. of com. p'eas of the 3rcl 
sub-division of the 4th judicial district of Ohio, at Cle/eland, 0., '75 
to '80 ; att'y at law, 236 Superior st. 

Malony, Edward— Inf. bd., '.S4. 

Mavnard, Alleyne— Ed. bd., 2 w., '64. 

Massey, A. E.— Coimcil, 14 w., '68, '69, '70. 

Marshall, Dan.— Council, 4 w., '74 to '75 ; with Congress Lake Ice Co. 

Marshall, Isaac H.— Council, 4 w., '59 to '60; bd. health, '66 to '75. 

Mack, John— Council, 2 w., '49. 

Mathivet, P. A.— Aid., '47. 

Mathews, L. A.— Aid. '45., 

Marshall, George P.— Council, 1 w., '44 to '53. 

Mahler, B.— Bd. ed., '82 to '86; b. in C. '51 ; produce business. 

Martin, John — Inf. bd., '66; council, 9 w., '64 to '74. 

Masters, I. U.— Council, 10 w., '24 to '63; mayor, '62 to '63. 

Madison, Wm. A. — B. '45; sec'y of water-works bd. since '82. 

AlcBride, Lee— Aid., 5th dist., '85, '86 '87; Root & McBridc, Bank st. 

McBane, Alex. — Deputy supt. House of Refuge. 



APPENDIX. XVn 

McMahon, James — B. '36 ; came to C. in '61 ; deputy police supt. since' 65. 

McCurmack, E. A.— Ed. bd., 5 w., '81, '82, '84. 

McNeil, James— Bd. ed., 8 w., '78 to '82; police board, '83 to '87- Gro- 
cer, 560 Detroit st. 

Mcintosh, J. L.— Council, 7 w., '71 to '72. 

McLane, Alex. — Council, 11 w-, '58 to '59. 

Mcintosh, Alex.— Covmcil, 2 w., '49, '50, '51; bd. impr., '75. 

Mcintosh, John— City elk., '76 to '77. 

McGrath, James— B. '40 ; came to C in '49 ; council, '74 to '75. 

McKinstr}% J. M. — B. '44; came to C. in '67; council, '76; wooden-ware, 
Water St. 

McKinnie, Wm. J. — B. '31 ; came to C. in '55 ; dir. inf. bd., '83 ; now col. 
of customs. 

McHannon, Chas. — B. '40; came to C. in '66; patrolman, '68; has been 
sergeant and lieut. Is capt. of detectives. 

Mehlino-, John A. — B. '57; council, 19 w., '84 to '86, and reelected. 

Melcher, J. H. — Cem. trustee and treas., '86 to '87. 

Medhurst, Chas.— Council, 7 w., '83 to '85. 

Meyers, John C— Inf. bd., '84. 

Mellen, L. F. — B. '31 ; came to C. in '53 ; supt. inf. service, '82. 

Merrick, Louis— Bd. ed., '60, '69, '70. 

Merchant, Silas— Council, 1 w., '67 to '74; bd. impr., '69 to '74. 

Meyer, Wm.— Council 6 w., '61 to '62; health bd., '75. 

Messenger, A. P. — Council, 8 w., '54. 

Merchant, Aaron — Council, 1 ^v., '52. 

Merwin, Geo. — Council, 1 w., '37. 

Miller, Henry- Council, 12 w., '85. 

Milton, H. L.— Fire bd., '79, '80. 

Mell, Thomas— Council, 1 w., '44. 

Milford, Wm.— Prcs. council, '40; aid., '40, '41. 

Miller, Joseph K.— Council, 3 w., '37. 

Mix, Robert E. — B. '19; came to C. in '51; vice-pres. bd. of dir. work- 
house, '83 to '87; att'y, 27 Blackstone bld'g. 

Mills, Joshua— Pres. council, '37; mayor, '38, '39. 

Missar, Charles — B. '41 ; came to C. in '58 ; council, 17 w., '86. 

Morse, Benj. F.— B. '28; came to C. in '64; city civil engineer, '75 to '85. 

Morgan, Geo. W. — B. '43; came to C. in '57; bd. ed., '73; council. '74, 
'76 ; Morgan Lithograph Co. 

Monroe, W. H.— Ed. bd.. '86. 

Morris, W. A.— Council, 9. w., '76, '77. 

Morris, I. L.— Council, 18 \v., '82, '83; police bd., '86, '87. 

Morrill, Geo.— Council, 7 w., '55, '56, '57; died, 1886. 

Mollen, Christopher — Council, 3 w., '49, '54 to '58. 

Morgan, Henry — Council, 1 w., '42, '52. 

Morrison, David — See biog. sketch. 

Morton, L. S.— U. S. assessor, '67, '68. 

Moyer, Isaac P.— Council, '46; came to C. in '69; aid., '87; Evangelical 
Pub. House. 

Mooney, J. B.,— B. '55; bd. ed. from 5 w.; in firm of P. C. O'Brien & Co. 

Muhlhauser, Fred— Ed. bd., '76 to '82; aid., '85-'87. 

Mueller, Jacolj — Council, 6 w., '57, '58. 

Mueller, Herman— Council, 10 w., '83; b., '48; came to C. in '57; 
maltster. 



XVm APPENDIX. 

N. 



Nanert, C. A.— Bd. ed., 15 w., '79 to '83. 

Neff, W. A.— Ed. bd., 16 w., '77. 

Neff, Melcher— Bd. ed., 5 w., '64, '65. 

Nicola, Felix— Sheriff, '67, '68; bd. ed., '76. 23 Pub. Square. 

Nolan, C. D.— Council, 5 w., '86, '87. 

Noi'ton, Richard — Council, 1 w., '48, '49. 

North W. C. — B. '17; council, '72, '74; vapor stove business. 

Noble, H. L.— Council, 2 w., '36, '37. 

Nott, Wm. D.— Council, 1 w., '42 ; aid., '43. 



O'Brien, T. C— Council, 15 w., '83; council, 23 w., '86, '87. 

O'Brian, J. T.— B. '55; came to C. in '75; council, '84, '85; hat manfr., 

105 Seneca st. 
O'Laughlin, John— Bd. ed., 5 w., '71. 
O'.Neil, Bernard— Inf. bd., '76, '77, '78. 

O'Neil, Lawrence— Inf. bd., '83, '84; is elk. inf. bd.. citv hall. 
Ong, \V. C— B. '50; came to C. in '82; council, '86; aU'y, 236 Superior 

street. 
Orth, F. C— Council, 12 w., '73. 

O'Reillv, J. K. — Council, 1 w., '74, '75; marblfc business. 
O'Shea", T. P.— B. '44; council, 12 w., '79, '80; baggage-master C. C. C. 

& I. Railway. 
Otis, Chas. A.— Mayor, '73, '74; bd. impr.,'78; H. correction, '82; Otis 

Iron Co. See p. 226. 
Otis, W. A.— Water-works bd., '59. 
Outhwaite, John — Council, 2 w., '44. 
Oviatt, 0. M.— Council, 2 w., '56 to '62. 

P. 

Palmer, Chas. W.— Council, 8 w., '54, '55; council, 9 w., '56, '57; bd. 

ed.. '57. 
Palmer, J. Dwight— Council, 8 w., '60 to '64; legislature, '85 to '87. 
Pcitterson, Wm. D.— B. '27; came to C, '72; supt. work-house since 

'72; bd. ed., '85 to '89. 
Patterson, E. B. — B. '55; work -house b. keeper, '74 to '86; is manager 

Forest City Packing Co. 
Patrick, Chas. — Council, 3 w^., '57. 
Paddock, Thos. S.— B. '14; came to C. in '46; council, 3 w., '55, '56; 

bd. ed., '57; merchant, hats and caps, 221 Superior st. 
Parker, James — Council, 15 w., '70, '71. 
Pate, Wm.. Jr.— Bd. ed., 14 w., '78, '79. 
Paul, Hosea— Bd. ed., 1 w., '84. 
Parks, Robert— Council, 3 w., '48. 
Parsons, R. C— See biog. sketch. 
Pavne. H. B.— City att'v, '36; council, 2 w., '47, '48; water-works bd., 

''56; U. S. senator, '85. 
Paver, Emanuel — Council, 14 w., '85. 
Pavne, N. P.— Council, 5 w., '62, '63, '68, '69, '70, '71; mayor, '75, '76. 



APPENDIX. XIX 

Payne, Robert F.— B. '10 ; came to C. in '48 ; elk. of the court, '49 to '52 ; 

'U. S. dist. att'y, '61 to '65; judge ct. com. pleas, '69 to '74. 
Payne, P. W.— B. '33; came to "C. ^61; justice peace '70 to '73 ; bd. ed.. 

'74 to '76 ; lawyer, 117 Pub. Sq. 
Paine, Geo. S. — B. '42; came to C. '56; water-works bd., '86; plumbing 

business. 
Pennewell, Chas. E.— B. '29; came to C. '75; coimcil, '85, '86; att'y, 21 

Blackstone bld'g. 
Peets, E. 0.— B. '55; bd. ed. since '84; artist, 130 Root st. 
Peck, E. M.— Water-wks bd., '67, '68, '69, '72. 

Pettingill, Charles— Council, 7 w., '65 to '69; col. customs '76 to '77. 
Pelton, P. W.— Council, 9 w., '65 to '69; infirm, bd., '71; mayor, '72, 

'73; H. cor., '86, 
Pelton, Frank S.— Bd. ed., 10 w., '72, '73. 

Perkins, E. R.— Bd. ed., 1 w., '67 to '74; Mercantile Nat. Bank. 
Perkins, Joseph — Inf. bd., '71. 
Peck, J. H.— Bd. aid., '85 to '87; b. '40; came to C. in '72; live stock 

dealer. 
Philbin, Patrick— Bd. ed., 8 w., '72; coal business. 
Philpot,J. T.-J. P., '56. 
Phillips, W. W.— Council, 15 w., '82, '83. 

Pitkin, L. M.— B. '25; bd. ed., '64 to '66; Iron works, Scranton ave. 
Poole, Dr. E. W.— Council, '86, '88; b. '42; came to C. in '52; dentist. 
Powell, Albert — Council, 9 w., '54, '55. 
Porter, Wells— Justice peace, '66 to '67; council, 9 w., '54; J. P., '61, '63, 

'64, '68, '69, '70. 
Post, Chas. A.— B. '48; council, 17 w., '82; is sec'y and tr. of "East End 

Savings Bank." 
Pratt, L. C— Bd. ed., 15 w., '71. 

Price, Wm. H.— B. '18 ; came to C. in '56 ; bd. ed., '64 to '68 ; died, '83. 
Prentiss, S. B. — B. '07 ; came to C. in '40, judge com. pleas ct. for 15yrs. 
Prentiss, N. B.— B. 27 ; came to C. in '55 ; coroner 2 yrs. ; bd. health, '71. 

'74; physician. 
Preslev, Geo.— Council, 10 w., '63 to '66. 
Ptak, John, Jr.— Council, 12 w., '83; aid. '87. 

Purdy, N.— B. '20; pol. com., '66, '67; w.-wks.bd., '73, '74; lumber busi- 
ness. 
Purdy, H. D— Council, 9 w., '80, '81. 
Purcell, Thos.— Council, 5 w., '67 to '76. 

Q. 

Qtiayle, Thomas— Council, 1 w., '60 to '62; ship builder; b. in C. in 
1811 ; came to C. in '27. Retired. 

R. 

Radcliffc, Wm. H.— B. '27; came to C. '54; fire comr., '76-'79; ship- 
builder. 
Ransom, C. S.— Council, 4 w., '56 to '60. 
Randerson, Joseph— Council, 8 w., '63 to '67. 
Raynolds, H. K.— Council, 2 w., '65 to '66. 
Raidabaugh, W. P.— Council, 22 w., '86-'89. 
Reily, Frank— Street comr. '30 ; council '78, '79. 



XX APPENDIX. 

Reitz, Robert— Aid., '87. 

Reid. Thos.— Council, 14 w., '85. 

Reddv, M. J.— Bd. ed., 8 w., '84. 

Reihtz, F. W.— Health bd., '75. 

Redington, J. A.— Bd. ed., 9 w., '63. 

Reeves, Thos.— Bd. ed., 7 w., '64 to '68. 

Reillev, Thos.— Council, 5 w., '77, '78, '79. 

RezneV, Dr. W. B.— Council, 5 w., '72, '73. 

Rettburg, Geo.— Council, 13 w-, '68 to '72. 

Renzer, W. B.— Council, 5 w., '57 to '58, 60, 61. 

Reilley, Robei-t— Council, 3 w., '53, '54. 

Read, Chas. — Council, 1 w., '48. ' 

Reader, Chas. E. — B. '44; council, '86-'88; proprietor Reader stone 

quarries. 
Rhodes, C. L— Water wks bd., '56. 
Rhodes, J. H -Bd. ed., 6 w., '84. 
Rhodes, O. T.— Bd. ed., 14 w., '76, '77. 
Rin, Harvey— County elk., '36; aid., '39; council, 6 w., '56, '57; house 

correction, '71. See " Literature in Cleveland." 
Richards, W. C B.— Council, 7 w., '54, '55. 
Rider, L. J.— Council. 1 w., '57, '58, '59. 

Richardson, W. C— Council, 7 w., '77, '78; bd. ed., 7 w., '71. 
Rose, Wm. G. — See biog. sketch. 
Rogers, Ethen— Water wks. bd , '76, '77, '78. 
Rome, Thos.— Inf. bd., '71 to '78. 

Roeder, Phillip— Council, 2w., '72, '73; bd. healtb, '72. 
Ross, Moses— Council, 1 w., '39. 

Rogers, C. C— B. '15 ; came to C. in '33 ; council, 1 w., '62 to '70. 
Roberts, Ansel — See biog. sketch. 
Rose, Peter— Col. int. rev., '72, '73. 
Robinson, Wm. — Countv pros., '74 to '75. 
Robison, Dr. ]. E.— Police bd., '72, '74. 
Robison, G. H.— Coimcil, 22 w., '^5. 

Russell, C. L.— Council, 8 w., '59, '60, '77, '78; impr. bd., '77. 
Russell, Ed.— Council, 11 w., '54, '55, '64, '65, '73, '74; impr. bd., '61 

to '63. 
Ruthenberg, Wm. C— B. '62; aid., '87, '88; commission merchant. 
Ryan, W. R.— J. P., '83 to '86; deputy sheriff, '87; b. '55; came to C. in 

'72. Druggist. 

s. 

Saeltzer,Chas.— B. '29; came to C. in '55; bd. ed., 11 w., '77 to '81; is 

cashier Schlather Brewing Co. 
Sawver, Frank— Bd. ed., 18 w., '82, 'S3. 
Sand'erson, F. M.— Ed. bd., 15 w., '76. 

Salisburv, C. H.— B. '24; council, 11 w., '78 to '80; bd. ed., '83. 
Sabin, Wm.— Council, 9 w., '60, '61; council, 16 w., '75, '76. 
Sawyer, E. D.,— Council, 18 w., '75, '76; sheriff, '85, '84 and '87 '88. 
Sargeant, John H. — City eng., '60; council, 5 w., '59; w.-wks. bd., '♦'9. 
Saal, Geo.— B. '34; came to C. in '54; fire com., '73 to '87; hardware 

business. 
Schneider, J. H.— B. 55; bd. ed., '83, '84; election bd., '86; brewer. . 
8chug, Jacob — Council, 20 w., '85. 
Schwan, Earnest— Council, 18 w., '86, '87. 



APPENDIX. XXI 

Scowden, T. R.— W.-wks. bd., '57. 

Scott, Dr. W. J.— H. bd., '80 to '87. 

Schellentrager, C C— Council, 3 w., '77 to '82- 

Schielev, J. J. D.— Council, 16 w., '81 to '84; harbor mrster '80. 

Schenk, J. C— C bd., '72 to '76. 

Schmitt, Jacob — B. '29; came to C in '-48 ; began as watchman, '57. 

elected deputy marshal, '63; marshal. '65; is tow sup't. of police. 
Sessions, L. W.—W. -works trustee, '79 to '83' '85 eo '88 ; came to C in 

'69 ; nut and bolt works. 
Seymour, Alex. — Council, 3 w., '47 to '50; aid., '45 to '50. 
Sej'mour, Belden — Bd. improve, '81 '72. 

Senter, Geo. B. — Council, 1 w., '58; mavor, '59, '69; improve, bd., '64. 
Segar, G. W. — Council, 3 w., '78, '79. 
Shanks, Henry — Bd. ed., '84 to '86; b. '40; came to C. in '54; died in 

'86. 
Sheeban, Jeremiah — Council, 19 w., '85. 
Sheldon— Bd. ed., '56. 
Sharp, R. B.— Water-wks bd., '87. 
Shannon, J. D.— Fire bd., '82 to '86. 

Sheldon, Seth H.— B. '13; came to C. '35; bd. ed., '63 to 65. 
Short, Geo. W.— B. '41; police com. '79 to '83; Short & Forman, 

printers. 
Sholl, Wm. H.— Council, 2 w., '52 to '56. 
Shroeder, J.— Police bd., '66. 

Sherwin, N. B.— U. S. assessor, '72, '73; postmaster, '76, '77. 
Shore, John — City engineer, '36. 
Sherwood, W. E.— Council '76 to '78; elk. bd. impr., '78 to '81; ass't 

city solicitor, '81 to '86; came to C. '53; att'y at law. 
Shields, Joseph C— B. '27; came to C. '52; council, '66 to '68; now 

de])ut\' county treasurer. 
Schellentrager, E. A. — B.'SO; cametoC.'64; bd.ed. since '78; apothecarj^. 
Simpson, Robert — B. '44; came to C. '66; vice-pres. council, 40 w., '86 

'88; council, 12 w., '81 to '83, '84 to '86. 
Siegrist, J. C— St. comr. from '84 to '87. 
Singer, Toseph— W. bd., '61 to '67. 
Silbers. 'Fred.— Council, 11 w., '54. 
Sipher, H. G.— B. '42; came to C in '71; bd. ed., '81 to '83; deputy 

sheriff '85, '86; drv goods, 1007 Lorain st. 
Slater, David— Council', 32 w., '86, '87. 
Slaght, Joseph— Fire bd., '79 to '85. 
Slawson, J. H.— Council, 13 w.. '69 to '73. 
Smith, F. S.— County elk., '72, '73. 
Smith, Pard B.— She'riff, '73, "74. 
Smith, Dr. D. B.— Bd. ed. since '76. 
Smyth, Wm.— Aid., '42; council, 2 w., '55, '56. 
Smith, Jno. B.— Council, 3 w., '52. 

Smith, Patrick— Council, 8 w., '69 to '78; '81 to '82; w. bd., '76, '77. 
Smith, J. J.— Council, 5 w., '78, '79. 
Smith, C. M.— Inf bd., '63, '64, '65. 
Smith, T. M.— Ed. bd., 8 w., '72, '73. 
Smith, W. K.— Bd. ed., 16 w., '77; J. P., '68, '69, '70. 
Smith, Alva J.— B. '40; came to C. '86; council, '86. 
Smith, H. G. M. S.— Council, 37 w., '86, '87. 
Smyth. Anson— Supt., schools, '67. 

Sommer, John — B. '38; came to C. '53; council, '75 to '77. 
Sowers, E.— B. '32 ; justice peace, '70 to '73. 



XXir APPENDIX. 

Solders, G. B.— Police judge, '81, '82; att'v at law. 

Spangler, M. M.— B. '13; sheriff, '54 to '58; 

Spalding, W. C— Auditor bd. ed., '87, '88; b. in '63; came to C. in '85. 

Spelman, H. B.— Bd. ed., 4 w., '63. 

Spangler, Basil L.— Aid., '52. 

Sprankle, James R.— P. B., '78 to '82. 

Spencer, A.J. — B. '29; came to C. in '53; elk. tire bd. since '76. 

Spencer, O.— Inf. bd., '56. 

Spencer, A. K. — See biog. sketch. 

Spencer, P. M. — See biog. sketch. 

Spencer, Timothy P- — Council, 1 w., '39. 

btriebinger, Jacob— B. '45; came to C. in '50; comicil, 1 w., '73 to '78; 

fioin- and feed business. 
Stone, A. H.— B. '22 ; came to C. in '66 ; council '73 to '82 ; park comr. '85 

to '88 ; glove man. 
Strong, S. M.— B. '32; came to C. in '50; bd. ed., '73 to '77; work 

flouse bd., '81 to '85; druggist. 
Strong, C. H.— B. '31 ; came to C in '50 ; city civil eng., '69 to '78. Con- 
tractor. 
Streator, W. S.— B. '16; came to C. in '50; first mavor E. C. Is now^ v. 

p. of C. L. & Wheeling R. R. Co. 
Stone, Carlos M. — B. '47; came to C. in '68; pros, att'y., '70 to '74; 

countv att'v., '80 to '84; now judge ct. com. pleas. 
Sterling, Dr. E.— Health bd., '74. 
Stair, Thomas A.— Bd. ed., 7 w., '72 to '78. 
Sterling, J. M.— Police bd., 'Y3 to '78. 
Strever, Chas. — Council, 15 w., '77, '78. 
Sturges, Joseph — Council, 5 w., '61 to '67. 
Stewart, J. N.— Council, 4 w., '81, 'S2. 
Stan\va3', W. H. — Council, 4 w., '55. 

Steadman, Buckley— Council, 1 w., '50; aid., '52; bd. ed., '56. 
Stetson, Chas. — Council, 2 w., '44. 
Strickland, Aaron — Council, 3 w., '36. 
St. John, John R. — Council, 1 w., '36. 
Streator, Dr.— Col. rev. office, '80. 
Stephan, Dan.— Justice peace, '64 to '70. 
Stevens, Henry S. — Council, 3 w., '60 to '64. 
Starkweather, Samuel— Council, 3 w., '37 to '48; aid., '43; mavor., '44. 

'45, '57, '58. 
Strong, Homer— J. P., '70. 
Sturznickle, John — Fire bd., '76, '77, '78. 



Thaver, Proctor, M. D.— Bd. health, '67, '68; council, 4 w., '67 to '72, 

'75. 
Thomas, Jefferson— Council, 2 w., '39, '42. 
Thayer, L. D.— Council, 6 w., '58, '59. 
Thompson, Thomas — Council, 7 w., '58, '59. 
Thomas, E— Council, 4 w., '60 to '64; inf. bd., '61-63. 
Thorman, Simson — Council, 4 w., '65, '66. 
Thatcher, Peter— W. b., '61 to '66. 
Thorne, J. A.— Bd. ed., 10 w., '61. 
Thorp, H. H.— B. '37; came to C. '68; council, 16 w., '73-'75 ; printing 

press manufacturer. 



APPENDIX. XXIII 

Tielke, Gustave— B. '35; came to C. '67; inf; bd.. '84; druggist. 

Tilden, Daniel R.— B. 1807; probate judge, '51 to '87. 

Tilton, Alfred— B. '34; came to C. '40; bd. ed., '86-'88 ; malster. 

Tibbitts, Geo. B.— Comicil, 1 w., '41; J. P., '61-'64. 

Tice, Chauncey — Council, 5, \v., '54, '55, '56. 

Townsend, Amos — Council, 3 w., '64 to '73. 

Towner, J. W. — Police judge, '72, '73. 

Townsend, H. M.— B. "'30; council, 9 w-, '78, '79; hospital com., '87.. 

Truscott, Wm. H.— Council, 8 w., '64 to '67- 

Turba, Albert A. — B. '55; bd. ed., '85; wine dealer. 

Turner, Geo. W.— Ed. bd., 8 w., '61. 

TiTrner, W. P.— Inf. bd., '56. 

Turney, Joseph — Came to C in '34; trustee of Newburg and member 

school bd. before annexed; co. tr., '66-'70"; council, 2 terms; firebd.^ 

'75-'76; state tr., '80-'84; banker. 

u. 

Upton, Percival— B. '17; came to C. '32; council, '63, '64. 

Updegraff, R. D.— Police judge, '77, '78. 

Urban, J. P.— B. '39; came to C '46; police'comr., '84 to '88; druggist, 

356 Ontario st. 
Usher, Walrons— Judge com. pleas ct., '36. 

V. 

Van Tassel, T.—B. '34; came to C in '52 r council, '62, '70, '74, '78, 
'82; bd. impr. . '83, "84; hardware business. * 

Vail, Isaac C. — Was elected police judge , in '58; and reelected in '61. 
He left the bench for the army in command of Co. A., 103 Regiment, 
and died from a wound at Danville, Ky. in '63 ; was born in Wes- 
chester Co., New York, was 33 \'rs. old at his death, ver^- popular 
and much respected. . 

Vetter, J. G.— B. '37 ; came to C. '47 ; council, 11 w., '69 to '72 ; market 
supt., '73, '74; st. comr., '75, '76; market inspector, '87, '88; keeps, 
meat market. 

Vial, John— W. w. bd., '67. '68. 

Vincent, John — Council, 3 w., '39, '40; Vincent & Barstow. 

Vogt, J. J.— Council, 4 w., '73. 

w. 

Watterson, Moses— B. '35; came to C. in "60; bd. ed., '66 to '77; elk. 

bd. impr., '66, '67; is treas. "Standard Tobacco and Cigar 

Mfg. Co." 
Walworth, "W. P.— Council, 17 w., "79, '80; bd. ed., 8 w., '69, '70. 
Walton, Frederick— Bd. ed., 12 w., '69. 
Warmiiigton, Geo. — Council, '83. 
Watterson, J. T. — Council, 6 w., '76, '77. 
Wagner, Conrad— Fire bd. '84 to '88. 

Wallace, F. T. — Council, 5 w., '56, '57 ; see " Literaturein Cleveland."* 
Walz, F.— B. '58: bd. ed., 11 w.. '85. '86; physician, 775 Lorain st. 



XXIV APPENDIX. 

Wade, J. H.— B. '11; came to C '55: director of work-house, the first 
eleven years of its existence; sinking fund commissioner and park 
commissioner at present time ; is pres. of National Bank of Com- 
merce, and of the Citizens Savings and Loan Ass'n. 

Walworth, Ashbel W. — Council, 1 w., '40. 

Watmough. P. T.— Col. customs, '69 to '77. 

Warner, W. J.— B. 1808; came to C in '34; council, 2 w., '41; supt. 
inf , '57. 

Warner, J. F.— W. bd., '66 to '68; coimcil, 3 w., '44. 

Warner, Theodore M.— B. '44; fire comr., '81 to '84; council, '76 to '82. 

Warner, Geo.— Council, 11 w., '77, '78. 

Weber, John A.— Council, 7 w., '57, '58. 

Weber, Gustave — Bd. ed., 4 w., '61. 

Weh, John F.— B. '46; asst. city solicitor, '75 to '81; att'y, Blackstone 
bld'g. 

Weckerling, George — B. '18; came to C in '45; council, 1 w., '70. 

Wedlar, Philip — B. '43; council, 15 w., '85. ^Is supt. Woodland cemeterv. 

Weideman,J. C— Police bd., '76. 

Weigel. Chas.— Council, 7 w., '66, '67. 

Weideman, |. J.— Council, 10 w., '65, '68, '69. 

Welhouse, Wm.— Council. 10 w., '61, '62, '67, '71. 

Weidenkoff", Nicholas— Fire bd., '81 to '85. 

Weed, Dr. Frank J.— Health bd., '74; fire bd., '75; cor. Church and Wall. 

Weber, Herrman— B. '44; came to C in '66; election comr., 39 w., '86 
to '88 ; cooper business. 

White, S. M.— H. C, '86. 

White, T. H.— Council, 4 w., '76, '77. 

Whitaker, Charles— B. '17 ; came to C in '31 ; bd. ed., 3 w., '68 to '73. 

Wheeler, John A. — Council, 3 w., '45, '46. 

Wheaton, G. S.— Inf. bd., '63, '64, '65; impr. bd., '61 to '64. 

Whitelaw, John — B. '31 ; city civil eng., '59 to '65 ; sujit. and engr. 
water-works since '67. 

Williamson, Samuel — See biog. sketch. 

Winslow. Chas.— Council, 13 w., '81, '82. 

Williston,J. H.— Health bd., '70. 

Wilson, ]. T.— Bd. ed., 5 w., '80; council, '85. 

Wil1)ur, R. W.-Bd. ed., '86. 

AVilliams, Norman — Bd. impr., '56. 

Willey, Geo.— Pres. bd. ed., '56. 

Windecker, Benjamin — Council, 4 w., '83. 

Winter, Peter — Council, 5 w., '86. 

Wigman, John B. — Council, 1 w., '53. 

Willard, E. S.— Council, 7 w., '56, '57-60 to '66. 

Williams, Chas. D.— Council, 2 w., '57, '58. 

Winslow, A. P.— B. 1818; council, '56, '57; sheriff", '74-'76 ; stove manfr. 

Williamson, Samuel^E. — B. in C, 44; judge ct. com. pleas., '80-'82 ; is 
counsel for Nickel Plate Kailwav. 

Willard, Rufus L.— B. '25; bd. cd., '60-66; paint and oil business. 

Wilbur, James — Council, 4 w., '51. 

Williams, Ellerv G.— Council, 2 w., '45. 

Wills, John— Council, 3 w., '43. 

Witherell, Geo.— Council, 2 w., '42; aid., '43. 

Williams, Jonathan— Aid., '37. 

Worley, Daniel— City treas., '36. 

Wood, David L- — Council, 2 w., '45. 



APPENDIX. XX\ 

Wood, H. W. S— B. '44; came to C '50; bd. ed., '83, '84; library bd. 

'87-'90 ; contractor. 
Worswick, J. R.— B. '25; came to C. '51; council, 7 w.,'59, '60; bd. ed. 

'67 ; manufacturer iron fittings. Water st. 
Wood, Wni. A. — Council, 9 w., '55- 
W3'man, John B. — Council, 1 w., '43. 
Wi-ight, Nathan— Fire bd.. '76, '77. 
Wvllev, John H;— Mayor, '36, '37. 
Worthington, Geo. H.— Council, '82. 



Younglove, M. C— Council, 2 w., '41. 
Young, Peter— Judge police ct., '76, '77. 



Zucker, Peter— B. '56; came to C. '59; bd. ed., '84, '86; pres. bd. ed. 
'84 to '88 ; att'y., 219 Superior st. 



i.PAAo 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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